Hard lump on left side of neck

[smbarber85]

I noticed a hen was lethargic, not eating or drinking or coming out of her coop. Her neck looked puffier than normal so I felt around and felt a hard lump or irregularity on the left side of her neck - not her chest. She tried to eat and drink a little out of my hand but she could not lower her head - only curl it slightly inwards and lower it just a bit. I did some research and saw lots of stuff about sour/impacted crop but it looks like that's all on the right side, she does sort of stink though so I gave her lots of water and turned her upside down but the only thing to come out was water and a bit of saliva looking stuff, nothing gross. I'm afraid she's hurt her actual neck and any massaging is just going to make it worse - we do have a dog, he has never bothered her before but he's been more unsupervised lately. There's been no blood, feathers, etc to suggest an injury though. Any ideas?

 

[henny1129]

I'm not quite sure, is it possible she has an abscess? These can make animals have less energy and they definitely hurt! The only reason I think this is because our one goat had an abscess recently and he definitely had less energy. Hopefully someone else is able to help more than I have!