My chicken has an ingrown feather

[Wyorp Rock]

we ended up cutting the follicle and I pulled out a black small feather that was about a inch or more long. However there is still a large big marble sixed lump. is there more feather under that bump?
I'm having a really hard time finding any chicken vet anywhere in my area in Colorado Springs 80917 area. The ones I found online said they weren't avian vets. Does anyone know where a Avian vet is around Colorado Springs?

Photos may be helpful. The lump may be pus that needs to be removed.

 

[missionman]

UPDATE: So we had a black star female, not even 6 months old yet, that had a bulge in its neck. A feather was trying to poke out so we took an exacto knife, cut the skin and pulled out a slimy feather about 1 1/2 inches long but the bulge was still there. So we took the hen to Total Care Mobile Veterinary Practice LLC in Colorado Springs, CO a week later and Dr. Rivera Gosciniak (who is really nice) and her assistant went to work on her. Put the hen to sleep, made an incision and found not puss or a acorn looking cyst but 2 HUGE BALLS OF INGROWN FEATHERS!!!! Absolutely shocking.
This ingrown feather issue happens rarely, usually to young chickens growing small feathers or rapid growth (probably comes from too much of a certain hormone or could be related to diet in how the chicken handles some nutrients). Removal can sometimes lead to part of the cyst or growth connected to blood vessels and the chicken can bleed to death but thats more rare. More often its the hardened acorn looking cyst or pocket of puss. Then theres this....
Not one, but 2 huge balls of feathers!!
They removed all the follicles and cleaned it out and they stitched it up loosely (they leave it slightly open) for irrigating the wound and allowing it to heal up from the inside out. Chickens have great ability to fight off infection in their skin even when its dirty.
Best part is this surgery only cost us $100 bucks! Total Care Mobile Vet does house calls too but we chose to take out chicken in. They see all animals except horses.

 

[casportpony]

UPDATE: So we had a black star female, not even 6 months old yet, that had a bulge in its neck. A feather was trying to poke out so we took an exacto knife, cut the skin and pulled out a slimy feather about 1 1/2 inches long but the bulge was still there. So we took the hen to Total Care Mobile Veterinary Practice LLC in Colorado Springs, CO a week later and Dr. Rivera Gosciniak (who is really nice) and her assistant went to work on her. Put the hen to sleep, made an incision and found not puss or a acorn looking cyst but 2 HUGE BALLS OF INGROWN FEATHERS!!!! Absolutely shocking.
This ingrown feather issue happens rarely, usually to young chickens growing small feathers or rapid growth (probably comes from too much of a certain hormone or could be related to diet in how the chicken handles some nutrients). Removal can sometimes lead to part of the cyst or growth connected to blood vessels and the chicken can bleed to death but thats more rare. More often its the hardened acorn looking cyst or pocket of puss. Then theres this....
Not one, but 2 huge balls of feathers!!
They removed all the follicles and cleaned it out and they stitched it up loosely (they leave it slightly open) for irrigating the wound and allowing it to heal up from the inside out. Chickens have great ability to fight off infection in their skin even when its dirty.
Best part is this surgery only cost us $100 bucks! Total Care Mobile Vet does house calls too but we chose to take out chicken in. They see all animals except horses.

Welcome to BYC! Wow, thanks for the update and sharing the pictures. I'm going to bookmark your post for future reference.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

UPDATE: So we had a black star female, not even 6 months old yet, that had a bulge in its neck. A feather was trying to poke out so we took an exacto knife, cut the skin and pulled out a slimy feather about 1 1/2 inches long but the bulge was still there. So we took the hen to Total Care Mobile Veterinary Practice LLC in Colorado Springs, CO a week later and Dr. Rivera Gosciniak (who is really nice) and her assistant went to work on her. Put the hen to sleep, made an incision and found not puss or a acorn looking cyst but 2 HUGE BALLS OF INGROWN FEATHERS!!!! Absolutely shocking.
This ingrown feather issue happens rarely, usually to young chickens growing small feathers or rapid growth (probably comes from too much of a certain hormone or could be related to diet in how the chicken handles some nutrients). Removal can sometimes lead to part of the cyst or growth connected to blood vessels and the chicken can bleed to death but thats more rare. More often its the hardened acorn looking cyst or pocket of puss. Then theres this....
Not one, but 2 huge balls of feathers!!
They removed all the follicles and cleaned it out and they stitched it up loosely (they leave it slightly open) for irrigating the wound and allowing it to heal up from the inside out. Chickens have great ability to fight off infection in their skin even when its dirty.
Best part is this surgery only cost us $100 bucks! Total Care Mobile Vet does house calls too but we chose to take out chicken in. They see all animals except horses.View attachment 3918748View attachment 3918749

Thank you for the update and photos too.
Very interesting and helpful to see. Bookmarking also.

Glad you were able to find a knowledgeable vet to help, good price too.

Oh, you don't happen to have some photos of what the lump looked like before the vet worked on her do you?

 

[missionman]

Thank you for the update and photos too.
Very interesting and helpful to see. Bookmarking also.

Glad you were able to find a knowledgeable vet to help, good price too.

Oh, you don't happen to have some photos of what the lump looked like before the vet worked on her do you?

The lump was white in color. Picture a large marble under the chickens neck skin. The white skin stretched over it making feathers push out around it. It looks like this photo here in another post but way more pronounced and bigger, rounder. Very noticeable unlike this photo which is hard to distinguish. Just picture this growth on this chickens neck much larger and visible. Usually there will be a point trying to poke through the skin but not always. In our case we got 1 feather out but the mass was still there which turned out to be 2 massive balls of curled up feathers. If you do not remove these it will eventually kill the chicken but not before the chicken cant keep its head up, walk or eat. It effects swallowing. There are cases of it getting so big the chicken dies. Check your chickens under the wings for bulges, around the neck, legs. You only have to do it once. These growths are extremely rare if at all to older adult egg laying chickens or full adult roosters. Happens to growing chickens from what ive seen in the 1st year or years.

 

[Rebel-W]

we ended up cutting the follicle and I pulled out a black small feather that was about a inch or more long. However there is still a large big marble sixed lump. is there more feather under that bump?
I'm having a really hard time finding any chicken vet anywhere in my area in Colorado Springs 80917 area. The ones I found online said they weren't avian vets. Does anyone know where an Avian vet is around Colorado Springs?

I have to deal with this a lot with my hens checking them regularly espeshaly when they are shedding and growing new feathers. If you still feel a lump under the skin that is a yellowish colour I would recomend carefully cutting or genially digging around the area where you pulled the original fet her from as multiple new feathers might be trying to grow out of the same hole and got stuck. When you cut it if the yellow stuff comes out I recommend trying to remove it all as could cause more problems in the future. I hope this helps and you chicken heals well.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have to deal with this a lot with my hens checking them regularly espeshaly when they are shedding and growing new feathers. If you still feel a lump under the skin that is a yellowish colour I would recomend carefully cutting or genially digging around the area where you pulled the original fet her from as multiple new feathers might be trying to grow out of the same hole and got stuck. When you cut it if the yellow stuff comes out I recommend trying to remove it all as could cause more problems in the future. I hope this helps and you chicken heals well.

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