Growths on hen

[CCUK]

I have a one year old cuckoo Maran hen that has started getting growths on her back end. I initially saw one a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a feather cyst. I cleaned it out and it wasn't really like a cyst it was more like a yellow meaty chunky nastiness. No smell though. Today I noticed she is missing more feathers around her back end and has more growths. She also has a massive one on her hock and a small lump below her eye. She is acting completely normal, eating fine and laying eggs although they are smaller than my other marans. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wezdin]

Is this near her preen gland? The yellow nastiness (great description btw) sounds like chicken puss and would point to an infection.

 

[Rietta]

Heavens to Betsy that looks awful, that would make me go to a vet.. gonna see what the consensus is on this, following. best of luck by the way.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@Texas Kiki @coach723 @Eggcessive @azygous @casportpony @Hen Pen Jem can you guys help?

 

[coach723]

The yellow nastiness does sound like pus. If you clean out another one I would pull all the gunk apart and look really hard to see if there is any feather debris in there. Feather cysts can be genetic in cause with some birds. It also could be injuries that have gotten infected. Do you have a vet that sees chickens? Since this has happened before, and she has so many it would be worth it (to me) to find out if there is something bacterial going on. If it was tumors I would expect them to be very vascular and you would have bleeding when you cleaned them out rather than yellow gunky stuff, which seems much more like infection of some kind. Hopefully you will get more opinions.

 

[CCUK]

The yellow nastiness does sound like pus. If you clean out another one I would pull all the gunk apart and look really hard to see if there is any feather debris in there. Feather cysts can be genetic in cause with some birds. It also could be injuries that have gotten infected. Do you have a vet that sees chickens? Since this has happened before, and she has so many it would be worth it (to me) to find out if there is something bacterial going on. If it was tumors I would expect them to be very vascular and you would have bleeding when you cleaned them out rather than yellow gunky stuff, which seems much more like infection of some kind. Hopefully you will get more opinions.

I am at the vets at the moment. I will update when I've been seen.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I hope all goes well!

 

[CCUK]

Well I'm not sure what to think. It was an open surgery which means that you get seen whenever. I was a bit of a feature being the only one there with a chicken and I was definately the centre of attention for about 10 dogs! The time with the vet was very short about 5 minutes if that. She said that they are abscess. She pulled the two big ones from her backend clean off along with a bunch of feathers. Lucky wasn't happy and I let her bite and peck me as much as she wanted. There is no feather residue in the abscess so she doesn't know what is causing them. She left the one on her leg as it is too large and has damaged the skin. She prescribed 5ml denagard per 0.5l for two weeks. She doesn't think that it is a problem that will resolve fully. And that was it. I didn't really have chance to talk to her properly, I was like in....out. So my questions now would be how will I know if she's getting better? Will the lumps go down? Will any of the remaining ones fall off or do I need to remove them? I'm not to keen on separating her for two weeks just to take her medicine so could I give her it in a piece of bread or something instead of just in her water? There is no information on withdrawal periods on the medication do how long should I leave her eggs? If anyone can answer these please do!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Well I'm not sure what to think. It was an open surgery which means that you get seen whenever. I was a bit of a feature being the only one there with a chicken and I was definately the centre of attention for about 10 dogs! The time with the vet was very short about 5 minutes if that. She said that they are abscess. She pulled the two big ones from her backend clean off along with a bunch of feathers. Lucky wasn't happy and I let her bite and peck me as much as she wanted. There is no feather residue in the abscess so she doesn't know what is causing them. She left the one on her leg as it is too large and has damaged the skin. She prescribed 5ml denagard per 0.5l for two weeks. She doesn't think that it is a problem that will resolve fully. And that was it. I didn't really have chance to talk to her properly, I was like in....out. So my questions now would be how will I know if she's getting better? Will the lumps go down? Will any of the remaining ones fall off or do I need to remove them? I'm not to keen on separating her for two weeks just to take her medicine so could I give her it in a piece of bread or something instead of just in her water? There is no information on withdrawal periods on the medication do how long should I leave her eggs? If anyone can answer these please do!

Thanks for updating. I don't have any answers. I do hope she recovers fully.

Maybe @coach723, @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock can help with the egg withdrawal and the other questions.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greeting CCUK,

You can treat the water for all of the flock to drink. Denagard (Tiamulin Hydrogen Fumarate) has no egg withdrawal. However, it has a terrible taste, so you should mix some apple juice concentrate into the water. I use 1/2 can of apple or apple and berry frozen concentrate.

It is possible to use it as a drench, but, it isn't recommended. This medication can be dangerous without proper dilution in water!

It is interesting that your vet identified the lesions as abscess. An abscess usually occurs when there has been an injury that has become infected, then sealed in by the skin. The infection then fills the site with pus.

You describe a lack of pus and instead point out the "yellow meaty chunky nastiness, no smell". Abscess are usually warm/hot to touch, and painful, some have a smelly pus. The chicken will also feel sickly.

Your chicken has too many to be abscess from injury, although it is possible for feather follicles to get infected. However, the lump under her eye, is suspicious. There is not evidence of pecking injury, and that is a featherless area of skin.

Since the chicken is acting normally, it may be some type of fatty tumor. All I know is what I have read. But, here is some more information on the condition. You can decide for yourself, if these are abscess or something else. Your description of the material inside the growth you removed, is also described in the following article.

https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/lipomas-

These are my thoughts on your chicken's health issue. I hope I have been helpful.

God Bless