Swelling underneath beak

[Tookie]

Oh, and I just realized, she is actually a he.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Stick a needle in it, see if you get fluid, if pus, treat with antibiotics.

Chicken pus, is solid, & cheesy. Not liquid.

 

[azygous]

What are the physical properties of the lump? Approximate diameter? Is it rock hard, semi-palpable, or soft and squishy like it has water in it?

What is your location? That matters a lot. If you live in Australia, we expect so many poisonous critters, it would make a bite a high likelihood. If you live in the foothills of Los Angeles, that probability goes way down.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Has anyone seen this before? This poor little pullet (she is almost 11 weeks old) has this large swollen area under her beak. She is eating and drinking normally, but I am so worried about her. Anyone know what this is and how I should treat her?

What does the underside of the swelling look like?
Looks like there's a nick or injury to the beak as well, is that new too?
Any pocket under the tongue or smelly white or yellow material inside the beak?

 

[Eggcessive]

The top of the beak also looks to have an old injury. If lump is hard, it could be a tumor or cyst, or an abscess. Hard to know without lancing it to see if there is solid pus, or just tissue and blood. How old is she?

 

[Misha1369]

What are the physical properties of the lump? Approximate diameter? Is it rock hard, semi-palpable, or soft and squishy like it has water in it?

What is your location? That matters a lot. If you live in Australia, we expect so many poisonous critters, it would make a bite a high likelihood. If you live in the foothills of Los Angeles, that probability goes way down.

We are in Virginia, so I am not as concerned about venomous animals. It is about 1.5cm long and 1cm wide, firm and very warm to the touch. Not what I would call rock hard, but definitely not what I would define as squishy. We have her isolated inside now, continuing to monitor her. Will do an exploratory poke later on after we make a supply run.

 

[Misha1369]

The top of the beak also looks to have an old injury. If lump is hard, it could be a tumor or cyst, or an abscess. Hard to know without lancing it to see if there is solid pus, or just tissue and blood. How old is she?

She is only 11 weeks old, but is in with a bunch of rowdy males. We are working on building additional pens so we can separate them. We bought a straight run from Greenfire Farms over in FL, and we ended up with a whole bunch of roosters!

 

[Misha1369]

What does the underside of the swelling look like?
Looks like there's a nick or injury to the beak as well, is that new too?
Any pocket under the tongue or smelly white or yellow material inside the beak?


View attachment 3382401

I was looking at that too! Just went back to look at her, and now there's no sign of that spot that showed up in the picture.

Now that I think of it, we did give them some old tomatoes that day

 

[azygous]

I'm sure you know how a blister feels. Being full of fluid, it's like a tiny water balloon. A cyst will feel much firmer, being fatty tissue. A tumor is hard. It's got its own blood supply, so if poked with a needle, it will bleed. A blister will leak fluid. A cyst will not leak anything since its fat cells.

It may be an abcess, This is usually caused by staph infection. As someone pointed out, pus from chickens is solid like wax, but it will come out of you apply pressure after puncturing the swollen tissue. In fact, it's what you would need to do to start it healing. Then keep antibiotic ointment on it until it's gone.

 

[Misha1369]

I'm sure you know how a blister feels. Being full of fluid, it's like a tiny water balloon. A cyst will feel much firmer, being fatty tissue. A tumor is hard. It's got its own blood supply, so if poked with a needle, it will bleed. A blister will leak fluid. A cyst will not leak anything since its fat cells.

It may be an abcess, This is usually caused by staph infection. As someone pointed out, pus from chickens is solid like wax, but it will come out of you apply pressure after puncturing the swollen tissue. In fact, it's what you would need to do to start it healing. Then keep antibiotic ointment on it until it's gone.

Yeah. I'm leaning towards abscess. One thing... after lancing, do I try to bandage it up somehow? And if so, anyone have suggestions on how to go about doing that without bandaging her face shut? Hopefully I can leave it open and just keep applying ointment like you mentioned. I'm guessing just enough to keep it saturated so it doesn't dry out and crack open?