Swollen neck / throat

[Ellieschickies]

Does anybody have any clue what this lump under our hen’s beak might be? It’s quite firm to the touch, right between the wattles (which were also swollen originally but are back to normal now.) She’s had it almost two weeks now and is still eating, drinking and acting normal. Been to the vet and they had no clue, said it wasn’t any of the obvious contagious things but it didn’t look good and “we should just wait for her to give up”.

Hopefully somebody on here has seen something similar!

 

[HuskerHens18]

Can you move it around under the skin at all? Or does it seem pretty attached on the inside? I wonder if it's a fatty skin tumor. Although I think any vet would be able to recognize something like that.

 

[Soy Milano]

Have you tried using the chicken symptom checker tool? http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php

 

[Ellieschickies]

Can you move it around under the skin at all? Or does it seem pretty attached on the inside? I wonder if it's a fatty skin tumor. Although I think any vet would be able to recognize something like that.

I do wonder that too. The vet put a needle in it to see if it could be drained as an abscesses but there was nothing to come out. When it was larger she was struggling to drink but now the swelling has gone down she seems to be acting normal again

 

[Ellieschickies]

Have you tried using the chicken symptom checker tool? http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php

I will have a look on here thank you so much

 

[ChocolateWingTheRooster]

Is it weird my cats had something similar? I was told it's a type of maggot... I hope that's not what she has, a few of my cats died from it!

 

[HuskerHens18]

I do wonder that too. The vet put a needle in it to see if it could be drained as an abscesses but there was nothing to come out. When it was larger she was struggling to drink but now the swelling has gone down she seems to be acting normal again

I wonder if it's a lymph node issue?? Do chickens have lymph nodes?
I struggle with swollen lymph nodes, makes it hard to swallow liquids on the bad days, on good days theres no issue.
I hope everything turns out okay with her, I wish I had more ideas what it could be.

 

[coach723]

Since it's been two weeks and the swelling has gone down some, I wonder if it could have been something like a wasp sting. They don't usually have too much trouble with bees since they only sting defensively, but wasps can be aggressive. I don't think I would 'wait for her to give up', rather I would just monitor to see if it continues to slowly get smaller, or at some point gets worse. If it was newer you might be able to part the feathers and look closely for a sting spot, but after 2 weeks it's probably gone, might get lucky and find a small scab. That's assuming it happened from outside and not from swallowing it. In that case, hopefully it will have learned those are not good to eat. The fact that she's eating and drinking and acting normal is good. It also could be a cyst or tumor, but those don't usually get smaller. But even those can be benign and the chicken can live a long life with no real issues.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Ideas: It could be an insect bite or a botfly larvae (aka maggots).

The easiest and most effective way to remove botfly larvae is to apply petroleum jelly over the location, which prevents air from reaching the larva, suffocating it. It can then be removed with tweezers safely after a day.

Video of botfly removal from a chick on youtube, may be too graphic for some folks:

 

[Ellieschickies]

Since it's been two weeks and the swelling has gone down some, I wonder if it could have been something like a wasp sting. They don't usually have too much trouble with bees since they only sting defensively, but wasps can be aggressive. I don't think I would 'wait for her to give up', rather I would just monitor to see if it continues to slowly get smaller, or at some point gets worse. If it was newer you might be able to part the feathers and look closely for a sting spot, but after 2 weeks it's probably gone, might get lucky and find a small scab. That's assuming it happened from outside and not from swallowing it. In that case, hopefully it will have learned those are not good to eat. The fact that she's eating and drinking and acting normal is good. It also could be a cyst or tumor, but those don't usually get smaller. But even those can be benign and the chicken can live a long life with no real issues.

Thank you for replying I will keep a close eye on her and hopefully it is just something she can live with and have no issues with going forward