New Chicken enlarged chest mass, skin growth, deep puncture wound, twisted toes

[Blazel]

Hello,

We just picked up a new chicken tonight, we got her as she was being bullied by her flock, the other chickens wouldn't let her roost or eat and were pinning her down to pull her feathers out. She's just over a year old, hy-line chicken. When we saw her we immediately agreed to take her, only to find more injuries once we got home. She is underweight and has a prominent keel. We have only had her a few hours, her poop looks normal and she has a great appetite. Our vet isn't open until tomorrow so I'm just hoping this is nothing time sensitive.

1.) Large inflamed mass on chest (crop?) that is quite red and hotter then the rest of her body, both to touch and with temp. gun.

2.) Puncture wound on head, large air-y pus filled pocket, with a pus looking membrane(?) on the back of her head. We cleaned it and trimmed some of the feathers around it.

3.) Twisted toes, they appear like they were broken?

4.) A tail. Like above her tail feathers on her lower back, is a little fleshy stick, it's not hard but she does chew at it quite a bit and it appears to bother her.

We are willing to put the work in, we just really want to save her. She is so sweet, please advise anything we can do to help her while we wait for our vet appointment. She is currently sleeping in a dog crate with hay and blankets in our house.

Thank you!

 

[Kathy Golla]

Wow she’s been worked over with feather picking. She looks pretty good.
That mass is her crop. The feathers have been picked off of it.
I’d give her a nice, dark , comfortable and quiet place to sleep. Cover her partially during the day and fully at night.
Give her some good chicken food and water. She’s probably been kept away from food and water by the rest of the flock.
Feed her some eggs, mealworms, kale, mackerel, healthy metabolic boosting foods, a little bit a day. You can put some vitamins in it but after 5 days the vitamins causes diarrhea.
Until you can get her to a vet for a checkup! She may have a health problem the flock is picking up on.
She should be healthy before you try to introduce her to your flock. You should wait 30 days best practice anyway.

 

[Blazel]

Wow she’s been worked over with feather picking. She looks pretty good.
That mass is her crop. The feathers have been picked off of it.
I’d give her a nice, dark , comfortable and quiet place to sleep. Cover her partially during the day and fully at night.
Give her some good chicken food and water. She’s probably been kept away from food and water by the rest of the flock.
Feed her some eggs, mealworms, kale, mackerel, healthy metabolic boosting foods, a little bit a day. You can put some vitamins in it but after 5 days the vitamins causes diarrhea.
Until you can get her to a vet for a checkup!
She should be healthy before you try to introduce her to your flock. You should wait 30 days best practice anyway.

Is her crop normal in proportion to her body? It's quite hard and I'm unsure if its impacted or just because she's so scrawny looking that it seems off.

Should I be concerned in regards to not being able to get into a vet till morning? Are any of these issues time sensitive?

She was SO hungry when we first offered her food, I'm just concerned about offering too much since her crop looks so big. She's currently in our office in her dog crate with a blanket over her. It's quiet there and warm and the other animals cant bother her.

We're totally prepared for a long haul of treatment, I'm just hopeful we aren't set up for heartbreak.

 

[getaclue]

You will know more about her crop in the morning. It should empty out overnight. The little stick thing by her tail feathers is normal. It belongs there. The toes don't look too bad. She can stand, and walk, so that too will be fine. The scales on the feet, and legs are tight, which is good. Other than putting some triple antibiotic ointment on the head wound, giving her a good diet, and providing a sample of poo for the vet to do a fecal on, overall, she doesn't look too bad.

 

[Kathy Golla]

No red flags.
Crop problems are usually signs of other underlying issues. A hard crop can also be caused by dehydration, the crop bag gets dried out and feels hard.
You can have the vet check it out tomorrow. I would say getting some nutrients in her is key. If she is hungry that’s telling you something. Just try to feed her chicken feed and good healthy food. Usually birds with crop problems won’t eat.

 

[Blazel]

You will know more about her crop in the morning. It should empty out overnight. The little stick thing under her tail feathers is normal. It belongs there. The toes don't look too bad. She can stand, and walk, so that too will be fine. The scales on the feet, and legs are tight, which is good. Other than putting some triple antibiotic ointment on the head wound, giving her a good diet, and providing a sample of poo for the vet to do a fecal on, overall, she doesn't look too bad.

Thank you so much for the info, I'm so relieved! The stick thing is above her tail feathers, probably 1-2 inches above, and our other chicken doesn't have one. She seems quite irritated by it as she picks at it a lot. What is it for/what is it called? Do all chickens have this?

 

[Trux]

Thank you so much for the info, I'm so relieved! The stick thing is above her tail feathers, probably 1-2 inches above, and our other chicken doesn't have one. She seems quite irritated by it as she picks at it a lot. What is it for/what is it called? Do all chickens have this?

Preening gland, has oil in it for them to preen their feathers with.

 

[getaclue]

Blazel, are you in Australia? I'm asking that, because when looking at the neck, there is quite a bit of new feather growth. I know the seasons down under are reversed to ours, so it's time for chickens a year old, or older to molt. Molt is when chickens replace old feathers with new ones. This may not be as bad a case of feather picking as first presumed. It appears you've also bathed her. It's difficult to tell if there might be any mite/lice activity on a wet chicken. I hope you didn't let her catch a chill.

 

[Blazel]

Blazel, are you in Australia? I'm asking that, because when looking at the neck, there is quite a bit of new feather growth. I know the seasons down under are reversed to ours, so it's time for chickens a year old, or older to molt. Molt is when chickens replace old feathers with new ones. This may not be as bad a case of feather picking as first presumed. It appears you've also bathed her. It's difficult to tell if there might be any mite/lice activity on a wet chicken. I hope you didn't let her catch a chill.

We are in Canada, the previous guardian for this hen said she watched the other chickens pin her down and rip her feathers out repeatedly, so I think the feather loss is all from bullying.

 

[Blazel]

Vet helped us flush and drain the wounds, started her on antibiotics (which she has now finished) and said she should be better in no time! The vet thought she was so sweet they actually waived the fee for the exam! She seems better already, boy has she gotten loud!