Lump on her breast (pic included)

[harrisville chicken]

One of our chickens has developed a lump on one side of her chest. She's a bantam cochin frizzle. It's a little hard to see in the picture because of how she is positioned (she's not a very cooperative model), but the right side is significantly larger than the left. It looks almost like a goiter, if chickens have goiters. She used to have a lot more feathers than she does now. In the early spring this year, she started to become more and more scraggly-looking, and the feathers have never grown back. We have 5 other healthy-looking chickens, so we aren't sure if she's just molting (do chickens molt for 7 months?) or if something else is going on.

 

[Dar]

If the bump goes down by morning and returns in the evening I suspect its a full crop... as long as its mushy everythings ok

 

[SpringChickens]

Quote:
Yep, definitely just a full crop!

 

[speckledhen]

The crop is just more visible when a bird is in heavy molt like that one is.

 

[Tigerjane]

Just to be sure, she doesn't have access to hay/straw does she? r if she's on pine shavings, have you noticed her eating any? I had a chick, the only one out of 7 that I hatched, that ate some of the pine shavings at around 7 days old, and had the same bump for over 24hrs, and was losing feathers from the area as well. Took him to the vet, she said his gizzard also felt harder than it should, and gave him a GI soother to help the matter move through.

 

[emys]

chickens do not molt for 7 months - someone must be plucking her new feathers. I would house her apart for awhile - will make it easier to check the crop and make sure it is empty in the am also.

 

[harrisville chicken]

Thanks for all your input (don't stop, if more of you have suggestions).

We'll keep an eye on her.

@Tigerjane, she has no access to haw or straw. There's some sawdust in the nesting boxes, I haven't seen her eating at it.

@emys, All six of our chickens free range in a very large backyard all day every day (what a life!). She's pretty plucky and unusually high on the pecking order, especially if I'm throwing them some peanuts.

I just put a little bowl of olive oil mixed with dissolved feed pellets in front of her. She seemed pleased with the special attention and took several bites of it and then went back to her "perch". She prefers to sleep on the ground in a little tipped over plastic bucket.

 

[Bleenie]

She looks more like a "Curly" than a Frizzle (a Curly is the result of a double dose of the Frizzle gene). I have seen a lot of Curly's that lose feathers or just don't have a lot because they're so fragile and break so easily, maybe that's her problem? ... I have also seen some pretty naked ones but apparently they usually throw some Gorgeous babies!!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I also think she looks like a curley. Try adding some oily seeds such as black oil sunflower, safflower and flax and also protein (preferably animal) to her diet.