hard crusted mass on th back of the neck

[dimpledweather]

Hi, my September has a one inch diameter by one and half inch talk hard crusted mass in her neck near her wing base. She is not acting any different. She even ran to me as normal and I picked her I and the lump hit my arm. I have been reading the threads but nothing sounds like issues. I have had two chickens to die and not know why,but I bought them as an adult and didn't know their age or history. They kept getting a pasty butt then got lethargic and their Combs turned Burgundy. But this chicken with the mass I have raises since a say old. She is 10 months old and her eardate not completely red, but she lays brown eggs. She is still laying. Are the eggs safe to eat? I saw a mite on her around the mass.and it had a smell. Could this be a mite problem? Please help I have 11 other adult and 26 babies at risk. She is currently separated. I just found the mass today

 

[Judy]

It sounds like a wound which has scabbed over, and the smell might be infection. You could try soaking the scab off to see what is under there. You could put a bunch of Neosporin on it to see if it will loosen the crust. Treat everyone for lice/mites if you feel they have them; I'll give you a link. A single tiny bug could be a flea or gnat.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[dimpledweather]

It's hard all over .I tried snipping it to see if anything would come out but it was hard to cut. It is really big. It is the size if an adult thumb starting from the joint up. Could that be a wound?

 

[dimpledweather]

 

[dimpledweather]

So this thing in the picture tripled in size. And yesterday since it is so big now she some how knocked all the crusty outer part off. It was bleeding an the length was reduce by half. I thought I would find her dead from a loss of blood but she is still alive. Can this be cancer?

 

[RussianChickens]

Now that is different! Probably not a mite problem but possibly another exotic parasite or cancer/tumor. I would be tempted to pull it off, or more so surgically remove it from the skin!! What ever That is needs to be removed. That's all I can say for it. I don't know what it is but I would remove it. That is my opinion.

Best of luck!

 

[chooks4life]

Hang on a minute, if it is cancer and you snip into it, since it's proven to have great blood flow you could be spreading cancer cells through her body where they might take hold and grow in any place they can. With external cancers the best treatment is topical, not to cut into them. If it is an aggressive cancer it will not only grow back but spread as well.

There are various things to apply to sun spots/skin cancer etc for humans that might work for her if it is cancer. I don't know where you live but if you can get Radium weed/Euphorbia Peplus or an ointment made from it, this will help --- if it is cancer.

I am thinking it may originally have been a malformed feather, though, or maybe a keratin overgrowth or follicular disorder. I saw a pic recently of a rabbit that had a whole face full of those. In that animal's case it was terminal, but I doubt the bird's got the same thing as the rabbit.

It could be a tumor too, that's very likely. I would try external treatments if she were mine, not cut into it, but whatever you choose I wish you all the best.

 

[RussianChickens]

Hang on a minute, if it is cancer and you snip into it, since it's proven to have great blood flow you could be spreading cancer cells through her body where they might take hold and grow in any place they can. With external cancers the best treatment is topical, not to cut into them. If it is an aggressive cancer it will not only grow back but spread as well.

There are various things to apply to sun spots/skin cancer etc for humans that might work for her if it is cancer. I don't know where you live but if you can get Radium weed/Euphorbia Peplus or an ointment made from it, this will help --- if it is cancer.

I am thinking it may originally have been a malformed feather, though, or maybe a keratin overgrowth or follicular disorder. I saw a pic recently of a rabbit that had a whole face full of those. In that animal's case it was terminal, but I doubt the bird's got the same thing as the rabbit.

It could be a tumor too, that's very likely. I would try external treatments if she were mine, not cut into it, but whatever you choose I wish you all the best.

No that is not true. We remove cancer off of humans [FONT=arial, sans-serif]laparoscopically[/FONT] where the tumor is cut up and taken out in pieces and it does not grow back some where else in the body. It doesn't work quite like that. Cancer CAN however spread to other places if left untreated. The best thing to do is cut around the tumor taking all of the mass and then sewing it back up.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: It is actually true. Some cancers are cut out but as I said, you could be spreading cancer cells. The more aggressive cancers are more likely to spread if cut than if left alone. When cancers are cut out in humans it is accompanied by aggressive treatments to prevent spread and regrowth.

We're not talking about an isolated hard tissue tumor here, either, it's a fast-growing lump with great blood flow. Certain cancers are basically guaranteed to kill if cut into. There are many types of cancer.

Quote: That's not cutting into the cancer. See the difference? There's a good reason melanomas in humans leave such scars --- because they cut out the healthy flesh around it --- why do they do that? Because cancer is known to often spread when cut into.

Tumors and aggressive cancers come in various types, and mostly the medical advice nowadays is to NOT cut into it. "Just chop out the cancer" used to be how it was done as a matter of course, but in many cases it merely grows back and spreads as well, so different methods of control and removal are sought.

I suggest you re-read what I wrote; the bits I underlined I think you may have missed.
Quote: I did not say all cancers will grow and spread if cut. But many do, so it's not worth the risk if you don't know what type it is, and if this chook's lump is cancer it would be most likely classified as aggressive. Aggressive cancer tends to not mind being cut into, in fact one could almost say it benefits from it. After all cancer needs nutrients too, but doesn't tend to be the most generous structure when it comes to sharing.

 

[dimpledweather]

The crusty stuff has been knocked off by her movement in her cage. It bled badly and now is a lump the size of a plum . Removing it would be difficult and I can not do sugary. Can cancer spread to my other chickens if they are in contacting her?