Lump on chooks back

[nomirawr1]

Hi,
Newbie to chooks - I have 2 hylines, a sussex (the fat white one), and 2 wyandottes...
My black 18 week old (ish) wyandotte has a lump on her back, between her wing and tail. The lump is hard and non moveable, It's about the size of the top 1/2 of my thumb, and about as thick. The feathers are all fine around the lump, no wounds, no heat, chicken is otherwise perfectly well. She hasn't been scratching/itching it, etc... They're well protected from predators here (the worst we have is possums anyway!) . No bugs (lice/mites/fleas).

We're located in New Zealand - if that makes any difference.
Sorry - as I say I'm a complete newbie to chooks, so not sure what other information might be relevant!

Advice? Ideas?

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Can you locate the oil gland in that area? Sometimes they get infected and can form an abscess. Look at your other birds to locate the gland and compare. Let us know if that is what you are seeing.

 

[nomirawr1]

Welcome to BYC. Can you locate the oil gland in that area? Sometimes they get infected and can form an abscess. Look at your other birds to locate the gland and compare. Let us know if that is what you are seeing.

Thanks for that - the lump is located too far forward to be her oil gland. It is much closer to her wing than tail, part of the lump being almost under the tips of her wings.

I realise it's hard to get a good idea from the photo - my apologies; fading light, uncooperative chook, another jealous chook pecking me, lol.

If I look at a pic of chook anatomy - the lump is at the foreward end of the kidney

 

[Eggcessive]

It's possible that it could be an infected ingrown feather cyst which can be common in birds and poultry. They can develop abscesses from pecking injuries. Also tumors can be common. It might help to look at it to see if it could be an ingrown feather and try to dig it out with a steriled needle. If it seems more like an abscess, then you can try and lance it and see if you can express any solid pus. Here are some links about feather cysts:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/feather-follicle-cyst
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/feathercysts.html
http://multifarious.thatraymond.com/tag/chicken-health/
http://canarytales.blogspot.com/2009/12/removing-feather-cysts.html

ingrown feather