I had this Buff Silkie pullet, who a few days ago started acting off, not eating like she used to and generally lagging. Then a couple of nights ago, I heard her making a sneezing sound. Of course, you hear a sneeze from a chicken and think the worst, but she had not respiratory symptoms other than this noise. So, I looked her over good. She seemed to be holding her head funny and her neck looked odd, but again, didn't find anything the first time I checked her that made me think anything was out of place.
Well, she was getting worse all day yesterday, so I took her out again. I started feeling her neck and found a lump just below her wattles and the size of a bean. I opened her mouth and looked down her throat. My first thought was gape worm, but there was nothing in there. As I pressed on her neck though, the lump appeared: a nasty yellow, gross thing all lumpy looking like dried out puss. Yeah, I know, that is just nasty.
She was real bad last night when I was out doing lock up, so I decided to lance whatever it was. I started cutting her open from the outside of her neck and she just could not breath. By the time I made it through the skin, she was gone. I honestly don't think I could have saved her because you know what this disgust and nasty thing was? It was her TONGUE!!! It was not attached in her mouth, it slipped down into her airway and was suffocating her! Can you believe this? I took it out after I realized she was gone and looked at what I had in my hand. It was a puss coated tongue. Then it occurred to me, when I checked in her mouth, there was NO tongue there in the first place, but it didn't occur to me that this lump in her neck could be her tongue. I am completely baffled. The only thing I can figure is that she had some defect that just reached the point of being a problem. How could I have saved her with a tongue that slipped into her throat?
Like I said BIZARRE!
Well, she was getting worse all day yesterday, so I took her out again. I started feeling her neck and found a lump just below her wattles and the size of a bean. I opened her mouth and looked down her throat. My first thought was gape worm, but there was nothing in there. As I pressed on her neck though, the lump appeared: a nasty yellow, gross thing all lumpy looking like dried out puss. Yeah, I know, that is just nasty.
She was real bad last night when I was out doing lock up, so I decided to lance whatever it was. I started cutting her open from the outside of her neck and she just could not breath. By the time I made it through the skin, she was gone. I honestly don't think I could have saved her because you know what this disgust and nasty thing was? It was her TONGUE!!! It was not attached in her mouth, it slipped down into her airway and was suffocating her! Can you believe this? I took it out after I realized she was gone and looked at what I had in my hand. It was a puss coated tongue. Then it occurred to me, when I checked in her mouth, there was NO tongue there in the first place, but it didn't occur to me that this lump in her neck could be her tongue. I am completely baffled. The only thing I can figure is that she had some defect that just reached the point of being a problem. How could I have saved her with a tongue that slipped into her throat?
Like I said BIZARRE!
