Large lump on chicken. Please help!

[Acre4Me]

I would think that it might be where a bot fly or warble has been, and exited, but am not certain. I would leave it open like it is, and perhaps flush it out with chlorhexidene or Betadine to disinfect the area. It also could be a breast blister that has abscessed. That is very interesting.

The primary reason I thought breast blister is just the location on OPs chicken. You could be right, and it could be where an insect took advantage.

 

[CCUK]

Hi @mns1977 Welcome To BYC!
Hard to know, a couple of things come to mind feather cyst or breast blister. If you have vet care, that would be best.

Feather Cysts https://www.beautyofbirds.com/feathercysts.html
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feather-cysts-in-birds

Breast Blister https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-is-this-scabby-enlarged-thing-on-roos-chest.1292202/



That stinks @CCUK since your girl had them all over and you believe she also had tumors/scabs inside, I would have suspected Cutaneous Form of Marek's. Without necropsy it would be hard to know.

I have no idea. I've never seen it before or since. I removed a couple of the smaller ones and it was a hard meaty mass. It left a hole that bled slightly. I should have seen if I could have hot a necropsy done but the vet I have doesn't do them.

 

[Acre4Me]

Here is my thread on the breast blister on my rooster. I posted pics a few times during the treatment phase that lasted many days. Post #65 has pics of when the largest plug came off after a few days of soaks. It was quite enlarged at first, but swelling eventually went away over time and after treatment.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ed-thing-on-roos-chest.1292202/#post-20988160

OPs Chicken looks different than the breast blister on my rooster, but placement of the problem looks similar.

Good Luck @mns1977

 

[Eggcessive]

The primary reason I thought breast blister is just the location on OPs chicken. You could be right, and it could be where an insect took advantage.

I agree, that it is the right location of a breast blister that has abscessed and opened. A vet would be the best thing.

 

[imnukensc]

The rabit below had several bot fly larvae in various stages. Here is some reading about that:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botfly

And here is some reading about breast blisters/abscesses:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/breast-blister

View attachment 1938126

Uhhhhh............that's a squirrel. Occasionally see them on squirrels here in the early part of fall hunting season.

 

[Eggcessive]

Uhhhhh............that's a squirrel. Occasionally see them on squirrels here in the early part of fall hunting season.

LOL, you are so right! You can tell that I was looking at the sores and not that close at the animal. Well, most are about the same color anyway. Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

 

[mns1977]

Thanks for everyone’s replies. I think it must be a form of blister. There are no vets around here who deal with chickens. I’m wondering if I just leave it whether it will pop and then it’ll heal. I’ll clean the wound daily with antiseptic. What do you think?

 

[Acre4Me]

You should soak in warm epsom salt bath (20-30 min). Use a tub or container, or bring chicken to your utility sink. This will help soften it, and clean off what appears to be dried pus on the outside. It may clean it up a bit so that you can see what is going on better. The middle with the indentation may be where a plug is located - where the infection started. We ended up having to open the breast blister on our rooster several days into treatment so we could evacuate the puss (which in chickens is more like yellow cottage cheese). We didn't do that until we could see what was going on better after a few days of soaking and applying neosporin to clean and soften the area, and after the first plug fell out/off. If you end up having to do anything that involves cutting or blood, have gauze pads, sterile saline for a rinse (contact lens saline will work), betadine to disinfect, neosporin, and possibly vet wrap to keep gauze in place.

I'll bet she starts to feel better once you start to treat it.

I don't recommend waiting for it to heal on its own or to "pop" because that means the inflammation is so bad it went beyond the stretching ability of the skin - and it would get a whole lot larger and worse. We had a pullet that had an infection around her ankle (on the side of the foot) - could not see a point of infection, and it was soft/fluid filled, so we waited to see if it would resolve on its own. Well, it just got worse, we could not get the infection under control despite many efforts in that direction, and eventually we had to euthanize her bc infection was beyond help.

Good Luck.