Hideous growth on leg

[HOTchick916]

About 6 months ago I noticed one of my 5 year old blue-laced Wyandottes had a very hard, callous-like “growth” on her leg. She was the only one of my chickens to show signs of having scaly leg mites so I figured it must have something to do with that. I soaked her legs in warm water & Epson salt & the “growth” practically fell off. 4 months later the growth was back but bigger. I repeated the leg soaking but this time it did not fall off so I helped it off which lead to a lot of bleeding & bandages. Now growth is back again and even larger. It’s like she has a 2” x 3” fin-like thing coming off of her leg. I brought her in for a soak in hopes of softening the growth so maybe I could shave it down some however it bled when I barely cut into the outer edge of this thing so there is actually blood flowing through it. She hardly bears weight on that leg so clearly it bothers her. She has taken up residence in my house but I don’t know what to do for her. AND she smells bad... not like poop but like infection. Does anyone know what this is? Is there some treatment for this or should I just put her down? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[azygous]

It's likely a squamous skin cancer from your description. It does no good to keep trying to cut it off because the roots run deep sort of like a perennial weed that you keep mowing but it just comes back.

These things can hurt. I had a hen with one on her back, and like you, I tried my best to treat it as a wound, but it only came back worse each time. One day, she was hiding by my wood pile trying to avoid being tormented by the other chickens and I accidentally knock a piece of firewood off the pile and it landed on her tumor. He reaction told me it hurt beyond anything I had imagined. Soon after that, I decided to end her suffering. She was the hen in this article I wrote. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

 

[HOTchick916]

It's likely a squamous skin cancer from your description. It does no good to keep trying to cut it off because the roots run deep sort of like a perennial weed that you keep mowing but it just comes back.

These things can hurt. I had a hen with one on her back, and like you, I tried my best to treat it as a wound, but it only came back worse each time. One day, she was hiding by my wood pile trying to avoid being tormented by the other chickens and I accidentally knock a piece of firewood off the pile and it landed on her tumor. He reaction told me it hurt beyond anything I had imagined. Soon after that, I decided to end her suffering. She was the hen in this article I wrote. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

Thank you for responding. I guess I'll have to euthanize her. Waaaa! Is cancer prevalent in chickens because this is my 5th chicken that's died because of cancer (plus one dog) I'm starting to wonder if it's environmental as I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California where mining could have made the soil toxic.

 

[6BeachChicks]

Thank you for responding. I guess I'll have to euthanize her. Waaaa! Is cancer prevalent in chickens because this is my 5th chicken that's died because of cancer (plus one dog) I'm starting to wonder if it's environmental as I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California where mining could have made the soil toxic.

My chicken passed of cancer last week. I’m so sorry you have to go through this. There is nothing you could have done. She is lucky to have an owner like you.

 

[Tonyroo]

That's definitely a reasonable conclusion for your area. It has a long history of mining minerals and gold.

 

[azygous]

I've just had one chicken with skin cancer. But I've had a lot of chickens die from cancers on organs from lymphoid leucosis. I am surrounded by mines and oil and gas drilling. It hard to think of anyplace free of toxins these days. It would be easy to test for Radon gas. It can cause cancer in humans as well as animals. It can lurk under your property and seeps up into enclosed spaces where it's breathed in. It's odorless.

I got a free test kit from my health department. I set it up and got a reading of zero which eased my mind. My place sits atop many coal mines, and Radon is common in such a locale.

 

[Sudsie1990]

View attachment 2873106About 6 months ago I noticed one of my 5 year old blue-laced Wyandottes had a very hard, callous-like “growth” on her leg. She was the only one of my chickens to show signs of having scaly leg mites so I figured it must have something to do with that. I soaked her legs in warm water & Epson salt & the “growth” practically fell off. 4 months later the growth was back but bigger. I repeated the leg soaking but this time it did not fall off so I helped it off which lead to a lot of bleeding & bandages. Now growth is back again and even larger. It’s like she has a 2” x 3” fin-like thing coming off of her leg. I brought her in for a soak in hopes of softening the growth so maybe I could shave it down some however it bled when I barely cut into the outer edge of this thing so there is actually blood flowing through it. She hardly bears weight on that leg so clearly it bothers her. She has taken up residence in my house but I don’t know what to do for her. AND she smells bad... not like poop but like infection. Does anyone know what this is? Is there some treatment for this or should I just put her down? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sudsie1990]

View attachment 2873106About 6 months ago I noticed one of my 5 year old blue-laced Wyandottes had a very hard, callous-like “growth” on her leg. She was the only one of my chickens to show signs of having scaly leg mites so I figured it must have something to do with that. I soaked her legs in warm water & Epson salt & the “growth” practically fell off. 4 months later the growth was back but bigger. I repeated the leg soaking but this time it did not fall off so I helped it off which lead to a lot of bleeding & bandages. Now growth is back again and even larger. It’s like she has a 2” x 3” fin-like thing coming off of her leg. I brought her in for a soak in hopes of softening the growth so maybe I could shave it down some however it bled when I barely cut into the outer edge of this thing so there is actually blood flowing through it. She hardly bears weight on that leg so clearly it bothers her. She has taken up residence in my house but I don’t know what to do for her. AND she smells bad... not like poop but like infection. Does anyone know what this is? Is there some treatment for this or should I just put her down? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I'm curious what the result is on this problem as I have the same issue exactly. She's perfectly healthy other than this and when we work on the thing for a while she can walk on it just fine. But it came back.

 

[Ponypoor]

View attachment 2873106About 6 months ago I noticed one of my 5 year old blue-laced Wyandottes had a very hard, callous-like “growth” on her leg. She was the only one of my chickens to show signs of having scaly leg mites so I figured it must have something to do with that. I soaked her legs in warm water & Epson salt & the “growth” practically fell off. 4 months later the growth was back but bigger. I repeated the leg soaking but this time it did not fall off so I helped it off which lead to a lot of bleeding & bandages. Now growth is back again and even larger. It’s like she has a 2” x 3” fin-like thing coming off of her leg. I brought her in for a soak in hopes of softening the growth so maybe I could shave it down some however it bled when I barely cut into the outer edge of this thing so there is actually blood flowing through it. She hardly bears weight on that leg so clearly it bothers her. She has taken up residence in my house but I don’t know what to do for her. AND she smells bad... not like poop but like infection. Does anyone know what this is? Is there some treatment for this or should I just put her down? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Need veterinarian attention, poor wee peep