Large Lump on Chest Near Crop

[coach723]

 

[ArrowheadG]

It is certainly worth trying to release air with a needle but you should be able to feel if it is air inside or tissue. If it is solid tissue or you cannot release any air with a hypodermic needle then my gut feeling is that it is probably a tumour and a vet is not likely to be able to help even if you could afford one.... my funds don't run to veterinary care for my chickens either so don't feel bad about that and I would hate for you to incur that expense when it may not benefit the bird anyway.
How old is she? Looking at her, I would guess that she is adolescent and that might point towards it being Marek's disease.
How long have you had her and was she vaccinated for Marek's. It is done by the hatchery when they hatch IF you request it and pay extra for the chick. If bought from a private breeder then usually they are not vaccinated. Have you had any lame chickens or ones that died in the past few months?
How many chickens do you have and what are their ages?

You will need to be more assertive if you want to try and help this bird. Lifting her off the roost at night is the best way to catch and examine her. Use a head torch, so that you have both hands free and use an old towel to wrap around her to keep her wings and feet secure whilst you examine her. Once she feels secure she will stop struggling. Enlist someone else to help you and discuss how it feels.... 2 pairs of hands and two minds are better than one for assessing things when you are inexperienced. If you decide to try to express it with a hypodermic needle, make sure it is sterile and give the skin a rub with an antiseptic wipe where you are going to insert the needle. You will only need a very short needle because if it is air, it will be pretty much just under the skin, so don't go deeper than quarter of an inch. If it feels really solid when you push it in, it is probably a tumour but have a good look at the skin for any discolouration or obvious blood vessels before you insert it. You will know pretty much immediately if it is air from a leaking air sac as you will hear it coming out.

Other things to do....
Check her crop function. Feel her crop at night when she goes to roost, remove access to food and feel it again first thing in the morning. If her crop (or at least one of the bumps on her chest) has not gone flat then she has a problem with her digestive tract. Obviously, give them their food once you have checked her in the morning.
Watch her closely when she is eating. Does she really eat or does she just pretend. Sick birds will often go through the motions of appearing healthy and active until they are too sock to do so. I have seen sick birds loo9k like they are eating with the rest of the flock but when you watch closely they pick up and drop the same piece of food.

In the photo her head is twisted to the left. Is it often in that position or was that just how you captured her in the photo?

Get back to us with more information as discussed above and better photos and hopefully we will have more idea.... bear in mind that when an animal is taken to the vet, he or she can see, feel, hear and smell the bird and watch how they react. We cannot do that from a computer screen, so we need you to provide as much information as you can, in order for us to help you.

Thank you! She is about 4-5 months old. We have six chickens total, three being at least five years older than the other three. We were told that all

It is certainly worth trying to release air with a needle but you should be able to feel if it is air inside or tissue. If it is solid tissue or you cannot release any air with a hypodermic needle then my gut feeling is that it is probably a tumour and a vet is not likely to be able to help even if you could afford one.... my funds don't run to veterinary care for my chickens either so don't feel bad about that and I would hate for you to incur that expense when it may not benefit the bird anyway.
How old is she? Looking at her, I would guess that she is adolescent and that might point towards it being Marek's disease.
How long have you had her and was she vaccinated for Marek's. It is done by the hatchery when they hatch IF you request it and pay extra for the chick. If bought from a private breeder then usually they are not vaccinated. Have you had any lame chickens or ones that died in the past few months?
How many chickens do you have and what are their ages?

You will need to be more assertive if you want to try and help this bird. Lifting her off the roost at night is the best way to catch and examine her. Use a head torch, so that you have both hands free and use an old towel to wrap around her to keep her wings and feet secure whilst you examine her. Once she feels secure she will stop struggling. Enlist someone else to help you and discuss how it feels.... 2 pairs of hands and two minds are better than one for assessing things when you are inexperienced. If you decide to try to express it with a hypodermic needle, make sure it is sterile and give the skin a rub with an antiseptic wipe where you are going to insert the needle. You will only need a very short needle because if it is air, it will be pretty much just under the skin, so don't go deeper than quarter of an inch. If it feels really solid when you push it in, it is probably a tumour but have a good look at the skin for any discolouration or obvious blood vessels before you insert it. You will know pretty much immediately if it is air from a leaking air sac as you will hear it coming out.

Other things to do....
Check her crop function. Feel her crop at night when she goes to roost, remove access to food and feel it again first thing in the morning. If her crop (or at least one of the bumps on her chest) has not gone flat then she has a problem with her digestive tract. Obviously, give them their food once you have checked her in the morning.
Watch her closely when she is eating. Does she really eat or does she just pretend. Sick birds will often go through the motions of appearing healthy and active until they are too sock to do so. I have seen sick birds loo9k like they are eating with the rest of the flock but when you watch closely they pick up and drop the same piece of food.

In the photo her head is twisted to the left. Is it often in that position or was that just how you captured her in the photo?

Get back to us with more information as discussed above and better photos and hopefully we will have more idea.... bear in mind that when an animal is taken to the vet, he or she can see, feel, hear and smell the bird and watch how they react. We cannot do that from a computer screen, so we need you to provide as much information as you can, in order for us to help you.

She is 4-5 months old, along with two others. We have three more, ages 5 years and up. The last one we had did was our Turken, which died months before getting the younger three. We were told that they were all vaccinated upon being bought.

Yesterday, she seemed to be eating fine. I didn’t see her drop any pieces. I can watch her today, though.

And as for everything else, I’ll reply once I get back home! I’m on my phone now, and my class is about to start.

 

[aart]

I can watch her today, though.

Might want to check her crop tonite after dark, then crate her with water only(no feed) so you can check that crop is empty in the morning...and check her droppings too.

My isolation notes:
I'd isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so you can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[Shadrach]

I haven't been able to check on my girls for a bit, but this still came up extremely fast. There's a large lump next to my Speckled Sussex's crop. I never noticed it before. It's hard to tell whether it hurts her, because I can't touch it without her trying to run away (I either grab her by her sides which she hates and will struggle to get free or try to touch it on the ground, and she doesn't like anything other than her back being pet while on the ground.) If anyone can tell me what this may be (other than the most obvious assumption of what this could be), please tell me! I will try and get her to a vet, but I can't be 100% sure that will happen, as my family isn't very wealthy and have very many money issues. I would like to be able to avoid this.
View attachment 1576386

You say you haven’t been able to check on your chickens for a bit; exactly how long has the ‘bit’ been?

If you can feel two bumps and you apparently know where the crop is then you can rule a crop problem out.
A evening and morning crop check will tell you if the crop is functioning.
You can do this while she’s on her perch if she doesn’t like being handled.
Tumors to the best of my knowledge are slow growing. If you haven’t checked this hen for a few weeks then I suppose a tumor is a possibility.
Say it is a tumor, are you going to operate on it?

While everyone is trying to be helpful, unless someone here has had a hen with very similar symptoms they are going to be guessing and really that isn’t going to help you even if someone should guess correctly. The problem still needs sorting out.

You can’t diagnose a problem like this from photographs.
If you want to take a chance that it is an air bubble then @rebrascora advice on using a needle to puncture the bulge is good. However, it still wont tell you why an air bubble erupted and that would seem important.

If the hen is eating and not being bullied there is no point in putting her in a cage; it just adds to her stress. If she is eating and drinking then the best place for her is with the other hens.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what the problem is she needs to see a vet if you are going to treat her. If you are not going to treat her then let nature take its course until she is obviously in pain. You will know should that time come.