Please help with large tumor!!!

[Tesumph]

Don’t cut yet! What does it feel like? It is soft, squishy, very malleable? If so it could be a hernia. In which case cutting it would disembowel your chicken and be rather horrifying.
If a vet isn’t an option, if she were mine, I would try and aspirate it first before cutting anything and see if you can draw anything out with a syringe. It looks like it has quite a large blood supply which is worrying.

 

[windychicks]

Don’t cut yet! What does it feel like? It is soft, squishy, very malleable? If so it could be a hernia. In which case cutting it would disembowel your chicken and be rather horrifying.
If a vet isn’t an option, if she were mine, I would try and aspirate it first before cutting anything and see if you can draw anything out with a syringe. It looks like it has quite a large blood supply which is worrying.

 

[windychicks]

It is very hard. How would I aspirate it?

 

[Tesumph]

Oh, very hard is not a hernia then. If it’s not soft then probably don’t need to aspirate it. If it’s hard I would get a very sharp knife, preferably scalpel, and make a small cut in between the veins where the skin is stretched tight.

If you see yellow mush, kind of like paper mache, then it’s an abscess and that’s probably the best outcome. If you see virtually anything else (purple or red flesh, a lot of bleeding) then it’s a tumor that may or may not be cancerous and you won’t get anywhere without a vet.

Before cutting you need to get a sharp knife/scalpel, some betadine, a saline solution, lots of gauze, and a syringe. Trim or pluck surrounding feathers if they’re in the way and clean the area with betadine (but know this is not a sterile procedure at all and infection risk is very real). If it’s an abscess then you can squeeze the muck out or scrape it out if it’s very compacted. The cut will need to be at least an inch long to do this, this will be tricky because of all those veins there. Once you have most of the muck out then start flushing it with syringe and saline. I can’t say whether wrapping should be done without knowing what it will look like but I probably wouldn’t wrap it. Keep the chicken in a clean area and clean the area at least once a day with betadine. Antibiotics may need to be started if it gets hot, red, puffy, or excessively draining. If it’s an abscess I might start antibiotics anyway. Tylan 50 is at most feed stores, along with the other supplies.

If there’s no pus in there to get out, then you need to stop. If it starts bleeding a lot (a little is normal) then be prepared to hold gauze over it until you can get it under control. Also know that if it is a tumor, there is a risk of agrivating it by cutting into it like that, but it’s your call.

Hope that all makes sense, it’s very early here, I’m a little scatter brained still.

 

[windychicks]

Oh, very hard is not a hernia then. If it’s not soft then probably don’t need to aspirate it. If it’s hard I would get a very sharp knife, preferably scalpel, and make a small cut in between the veins where the skin is stretched tight.

If you see yellow mush, kind of like paper mache, then it’s an abscess and that’s probably the best outcome. If you see virtually anything else (purple or red flesh, a lot of bleeding) then it’s a tumor that may or may not be cancerous and you won’t get anywhere without a vet.

Before cutting you need to get a sharp knife/scalpel, some betadine, a saline solution, lots of gauze, and a syringe. Trim or pluck surrounding feathers if they’re in the way and clean the area with betadine (but know this is not a sterile procedure at all and infection risk is very real). If it’s an abscess then you can squeeze the muck out or scrape it out if it’s very compacted. The cut will need to be at least an inch long to do this, this will be tricky because of all those veins there. Once you have most of the muck out then start flushing it with syringe and saline. I can’t say whether wrapping should be done without knowing what it will look like but I probably wouldn’t wrap it. Keep the chicken in a clean area and clean the area at least once a day with betadine. Antibiotics may need to be started if it gets hot, red, puffy, or excessively draining. If it’s an abscess I might start antibiotics anyway. Tylan 50 is at most feed stores, along with the other supplies.

If there’s no pus in there to get out, then you need to stop. If it starts bleeding a lot (a little is normal) then be prepared to hold gauze over it until you can get it under control. Also know that if it is a tumor, there is a risk of agrivating it by cutting into it like that, but it’s your call.

Hope that all makes sense, it’s very early here, I’m a little scatter brained still.

 

[windychicks]

Thank you vert much, Tesumph!! I have put feelers out for a vet in my area, but if I can't find one, I'll try doing what you explained.

 

[Tesumph]

Thank you vert much, Tesumph!! I have put feelers out for a vet in my area, but if I can't find one, I'll try doing what you explained.

Yea, I should’ve added that a vet is absolutely the best course of action.. sometimes even if a vet isn’t labeled as an exotic vet, they will still see animals like chickens on the side. So if you’re really not comfortable or don’t feel prepared, keep looking. I know some equine vets see chickens, maybe ask them for recommendations.

 

[windychicks]

Does anyone know if this could be a tumor caused by Marek's? I mean, is it typical of Marek's to have a huge tumor located on the outside of the body like that? She seems healthy otherwise, full appetite, up and moving as usual. I've also tried to see if any of the other girls have any symptoms and I don't see any.

 

[casportpony]

Does anyone know if this could be a tumor caused by Marek's? I mean, is it typical of Marek's to have a huge tumor located on the outside of the body like that? She seems healthy otherwise, full appetite, up and moving as usual. I've also tried to see if any of the other girls have any symptoms and I don't see any.

A friend of mine that has Marek's in their flock had a hen with a huge tumor on it's thigh, but I don't know if it was a Marek's tumor or not. .

What state do you live in?

 

[cassie]

Take syringe and needle and see if you can get anything out. It could be an abscess or a cyst. You may get pus or fluid or even nothing. You could also take a razor blade and make a very small incision. Of course, if it isn't bothering the chicken you could do nothing.