Large, lumpy wingtips

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

I have a hen who has had terrible looking feathers for about a year and a half. Today I picked her up to see if maybe her preen gland was damaged. It looked okay, but what I did notice was that on both of her wingtips she had very large lumps that feel bony. It kind of reminded me of clubbed fingers in people. I have never seen or heard of this in chickens. Does anyone know what it could possibly be?

 

[sourland]

? can you post a picture of the wingtips?

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond! I was on vacation and kind of lost track.

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

@Kiki @poultryprofessor
Do either of you know what this could be or know of anyone who might? I don't think it's bothering her since she eats and runs around with the others. I'm just really curious about what it is!

 

[Kiki]

I would guess a tumor.
I have no clue, I am sorry.

@casportpony Have you ever seen this?

 

[casportpony]

Never seen that either.

 

[poultryprofessor]

This isn't something I've seen, but I can send pictures to some colleagues to see what their thoughts are.

Do you have any more information you can provide? Breed, age, housing setup, etc.

Are the lumps hard? Squishy? Have they grown? When did you first notice them? Do they seem to bother her?

Any/all information can help rule out possibilities.

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

This isn't something I've seen, but I can send pictures to some colleagues to see what their thoughts are.

Do you have any more information you can provide? Breed, age, housing setup, etc.

Are the lumps hard? Squishy? Have they grown? When did you first notice them? Do they seem to bother her?

Any/all information can help rule out possibilities.

Thanks! She’s a silver laced Wyandotte roughly 6 years old. I just noticed the lumps, which are hard and feel like bone or hard cartilage. They look fatty though. For around a year and a half, she has seemed to have been going broody a lot. Shortly after she started going broody (maybe her second round in a couple months?) her feather quality went downhill. Now her feathers look shredded. I’m very interested in any answers! I don’t think it’s necessarily affecting her quality of life currently, but it’s such an odd thing, I’d like to learn what is going on!

 

[poultryprofessor]

I reached out to some colleagues. This is what I got in response:

"They are a feather folliculoma or feather cysts they are an infected follicle that has been keratinized. Usually caused by trauma, an abrasion of surrounding tissue, poor nutrition or bacterial infection. Short of having the cysts removed surgically there is nothing that can be done. I would recommend looking for any objects or surfaces that could cause trauma or abrasion. "

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

I reached out to some colleagues. This is what I got in response:

"They are a feather folliculoma or feather cysts they are an infected follicle that has been keratinized. Usually caused by trauma, an abrasion of surrounding tissue, poor nutrition or bacterial infection. Short of having the cysts removed surgically there is nothing that can be done. I would recommend looking for any objects or surfaces that could cause trauma or abrasion. "

Thanks! Based on that I’m guessing she probably got them trying to get away from either our old rooster or the stupid drake, and/or when she was younger we had some issues with bacterial infections due to the ducks contaminating the chickens’ drinking water. After we switched to nipple waterers, we stopped seeing problems, but it could have been that she had some cuts or raw skin and got filthy water in them. Thankfully she’s the only one with it and like I said, it doesn’t seem to bother her. Thanks for the info!