Rooster has bone sticking out of neck!

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Cheltaran

In the Brooder
Aug 6, 2020
26
88
43
Tasmania, Australia
We recently rescued a stray rooster and have been looking after him. Today we noticed that there's a bone sticking out of the back of his neck, near where the wing joins the body. He doesn't seem to be in any visible pain or showing any other symptoms, and there's no blood or signs of infection. It's hidden under his neck feathers and lays flat, so we didn't see it until today when my partner was picking him up to see how he's doing (he was very skinny when we caught him, trying to see if he's put on any weight).

Anyone have any ideas? We were thinking of keeping him, but if this is a major issue we may have to surrender him so they can either put him down or treat it.

A bone sticking through the skin seems like a MAJOR issue to me, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be causing him any issues or bleeding, etc, makes me unsure.

Photos attached.
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Edit: More Photos
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:eek: I'm not sure what to do here but it does not look like a chicken bone although it does look like it's "pushing" out from the skin rather than in. Almost like an ingrown feather ... Have you tried manipulating it? Hopefully someone with better experience/knowledge and eyes can be more helpful but I'm sure curious now. Hang in there for more responses.

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive @casportpony @dawg53 Thank you all in advance
 
:eek: I'm not sure what to do here but it does not look like a chicken bone although it does look like it's "pushing" out from the skin rather than in. Almost like an ingrown feather ... Have you tried manipulating it? Hopefully someone with better experience/knowledge and eyes can be more helpful but I'm sure curious now. Hang in there for more responses.

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive @casportpony @dawg53 Thank you all in advance

We've tried manipulating it a bit, and it definitely feels like it's attached to him, but we could be wrong. It can be moved around, but still feels attached at the end. At first we thought it was some sort of weird, hard feather, but it seems way too big/hard for that?
 
Porcupine quill? Those don't live where I live so I've never seen one, I'm entirely unfamiliar, but they are hooked/barbed so maybe that's why it's not coming out? I'm clueless :0
That was one of my first throughs too, but I couldn't think of what could have "stuck" him. We live in Tasmania, Australia, so we don't have porcupines here. The closest thing would be an echidna (which we do have in the area, and we have a fair amount of bush around our house), but I don't think they have barbed spines.
 
:eek: Can you get a picture of his whole body and point to where this thing is sticking out of?
I added some more pics to the original post. Hoping those are clearer. It's sort of at the base of his neck. We thought it might be a wing bone, but you can see in the last pic that it's a bit further up than his wing.
The thing is very hard, and feels quite sharp. To us it looks like a broken bone, but then it also seems big for a chicken bone.

Edit: It's almost the same size as one of his neck feathers, and similar colour. Do chickens grow keratinous feathers?
 
I’m new to chickens but I really don’t think this is coming out as much as it is something that went in. I have never seen a bone with a color change like that and no blood. Since you can move it, have you tried pulling it out? Check out Flying Nun Farms thread about sugar for wounds. The pictures are horrid, but she pulled through.
 

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