Thefarmerwithin
In the Brooder
Hi everyone - it’s been a hard morning. I don’t know how I missed it, I give my birds their little exams every other week or so but I didn’t catch this mass on my sweet 22 week young Easter egger Alma until it was too late. I wanted to post some photos and her story for somebodies future reference because in my own panic finding her this morning it was hard to find any info online about what I was dealing with, and the vet herself had never seen something like it before.
I’ve actually been dealing with my sick roo for the past week as he has became severely anemic from mites. He was the only one with them on his body though and everybody and everything was thoroughly treated and the mites themselves are now at bay but the anemia has been a constant fight with my boy.
So I’ve been checking everybody left and right for any signs of any kind of issues and we had noticed Alma had a sort of hunchback thing going on. We looked over her and felt it and after looking things up we decided it looked a lot more like Roach Back than something causing her pain making her hunch her back that way. I know now that it was from the pain of the mass on her neck but it was so hard to tell when she was acting fine and normal the whole time - until this morning. I went to let them out of the coop as usual and she was in the corner laying in that dreadful way where you know they are either dead or nearly. I realised she was still there but barely and as I got her out and into the workshop she seized and then couldn’t move at all. She couldn’t keep her eyes open or her head up or move her body. I started trying to stabilise her with unflavoured pedialyte and figure out what on earth could possibly going on with her and what to do next. The pedialyte worked wonders and actually got her to the point she could keep her eyes open and her head up but still couldn’t move her body. I cleaned her vent up of some wet poops and looked and felt her up and down and after 10 minutes of that finally felt the mass. It was hidden under her feathers so well but I could see some scabbing between them and then plucked all around it to reveal this giant nasty scabby thing. At that point I called the avian vet immediately and was able to get her in that hour.
The vets were amazing and well versed - they took her back and put her on oxygen to get her comfortable enough to get a catheter down her throat to see if it would pass the mass and when it did we decided it was a mass of its own and nothing to do with her crop like I had maybe thought it could be. She was also emaciated and her crop empty as she hadn’t been eating or drinking. Unfortunately it was either $900+ to X-ray and stabilise and antibiotics to treat her today alone in hopes she would make it long enough to do a biopsy or exploratory surgery or removal in a week or two from now with no promises she would make it another 10 minutes - or give her a peaceful passing and I had to choose the ladder. I sat with her and told her how much we loved her and joked with her that I was disappointed I never got to see her egg colour! All while my boyfriend (who loved her just as much) was at work eating his chicken mozzarella panini for lunch lol
I guess sometimes you have to laugh at how silly and juxtaposed life can be when it’s too painful to be sad.
I’m grateful I found her in time to give her a peaceful passing but I do feel awful for missing it until it was too late. I don’t know how much I could have done about it if I had even seen it earlier, especially if it was cancerous. Maybe it all boils down to poor genetics from poor breeding. I can only strive to do better for her sisters and brother and try to discover ailments soon enough that it doesn’t come to this for them in the future. I promised her that too. I hope this might help somebody with a similar issue figure out what direction to go in.
Before plucking
Beautiful girl
I’ve actually been dealing with my sick roo for the past week as he has became severely anemic from mites. He was the only one with them on his body though and everybody and everything was thoroughly treated and the mites themselves are now at bay but the anemia has been a constant fight with my boy.
So I’ve been checking everybody left and right for any signs of any kind of issues and we had noticed Alma had a sort of hunchback thing going on. We looked over her and felt it and after looking things up we decided it looked a lot more like Roach Back than something causing her pain making her hunch her back that way. I know now that it was from the pain of the mass on her neck but it was so hard to tell when she was acting fine and normal the whole time - until this morning. I went to let them out of the coop as usual and she was in the corner laying in that dreadful way where you know they are either dead or nearly. I realised she was still there but barely and as I got her out and into the workshop she seized and then couldn’t move at all. She couldn’t keep her eyes open or her head up or move her body. I started trying to stabilise her with unflavoured pedialyte and figure out what on earth could possibly going on with her and what to do next. The pedialyte worked wonders and actually got her to the point she could keep her eyes open and her head up but still couldn’t move her body. I cleaned her vent up of some wet poops and looked and felt her up and down and after 10 minutes of that finally felt the mass. It was hidden under her feathers so well but I could see some scabbing between them and then plucked all around it to reveal this giant nasty scabby thing. At that point I called the avian vet immediately and was able to get her in that hour.
The vets were amazing and well versed - they took her back and put her on oxygen to get her comfortable enough to get a catheter down her throat to see if it would pass the mass and when it did we decided it was a mass of its own and nothing to do with her crop like I had maybe thought it could be. She was also emaciated and her crop empty as she hadn’t been eating or drinking. Unfortunately it was either $900+ to X-ray and stabilise and antibiotics to treat her today alone in hopes she would make it long enough to do a biopsy or exploratory surgery or removal in a week or two from now with no promises she would make it another 10 minutes - or give her a peaceful passing and I had to choose the ladder. I sat with her and told her how much we loved her and joked with her that I was disappointed I never got to see her egg colour! All while my boyfriend (who loved her just as much) was at work eating his chicken mozzarella panini for lunch lol
I guess sometimes you have to laugh at how silly and juxtaposed life can be when it’s too painful to be sad.
I’m grateful I found her in time to give her a peaceful passing but I do feel awful for missing it until it was too late. I don’t know how much I could have done about it if I had even seen it earlier, especially if it was cancerous. Maybe it all boils down to poor genetics from poor breeding. I can only strive to do better for her sisters and brother and try to discover ailments soon enough that it doesn’t come to this for them in the future. I promised her that too. I hope this might help somebody with a similar issue figure out what direction to go in.
Before plucking
Beautiful girl
