So I found a lump on the side of my chickens head about a week ago which has grown bigger. There is also another mass under her neck. Over the past few days she’s declined dramatically; she has stopped drinking and eating on her own, her eyes are constantly shut and she’s having green diarreah. I took her to the vet and they couldn’t diagnose her becuase they don’t specialise in poultry. They gave me some antibiotics (baytril) and a dewormer for her to take over the next 7 days. I’m feeding her electrolytes through a syringe and she seems to be drinking it slowly. I’m not sure if this is a pus filled mass and needs to be drawn out. If anyone can give me advice on what to do next would be great.
I am not an expert on tumors, but I think your chicken may have a type of cancer called lymphoma which can be caused by 2 different chicken viruses, lymphoid leukosis or Mareks disease. If you lose her, it would be good to have your state poultry lab do a necropsy to get a diagnosis. Can you find her ear opening to see if there is any gunk that needs to be cleaned out? Let us know if the antibiotics help to shrink this. I am going to tag @azygous in case she has any thoughts about this being viral cancer.
