Turkey with cheek lump.

Tacampbell1973

Songster
10 Years
May 26, 2013
671
210
226
Washington State
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So as you may be able to see my camera shy turkey son has a rather large lump on his right cheek. Roughly half dollar sized. He first got it when we brought him home and had him in our chain link pen to meet our resident young Jake. We originally thought he had rubbed his whole face and neck trYing to talk to our other turkey through the fence. Side note: we were also told he was a she, so it made sense to let them meet slowly. I was scared for him/her since our standing Jake was very much reaching adulthood and he/she our new bird was half his size! It seemed to clear up, we thought. Several weeks or so later I saw it had developed into what you hopefully can see now. I tried hot poultices several times a day with no progress. In desperation I carefully prepped it and tried a needle in hopes of aspirating something from it, bUT nothing came out. It is not hard, in fact fluctuent enough that I was shocked it didn't explode when I pierced it. I'm out of ideas and my next concern is how to get a now much larger bird safely to the vet. I don't have enough training yet to feel comfortable doing anything else to him.
 
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So as you may be able to see my camera shy turkey son has a rather large lump on his right cheek. Roughly half dollar sized. He first got it when we brought him home and had him in our chain link pen to meet our resident young Jake. We originally thought he had rubbed his whole face and neck trYing to talk to our other turkey through the fence. Side note: we were also told he was a she, so it made sense to let them meet slowly. I was scared for him/her since our standing Jake was very much reaching adulthood and he/she our new bird was half his size! It seemed to clear up, we thought. Several weeks or so later I saw it had developed into what you hopefully can see now. I tried hot poultices several times a day with no progress. In desperation I carefully prepped it and tried a needle in hopes of aspirating something from it, bUT nothing came out. It is not hard, in fact fluctuent enough that I was shocked it didn't explode when I pierced it. I'm out of ideas and my next concern is how to get a now much larger bird safely to the vet. I don't have enough training yet to feel comfortable doing anything else to him.
If your intention is to take him to the vet, I'd get a wire dog crate to transport him in. They're relatively lightweight but still sturdy, and they come in tons of sizes.

Could you get a helper to hold him and get a clearer pic of that side of his face? In the second picture it looks like his eye is missing. Is it swollen shut or just eclipsed by the growth?
 
Hi Amy and thank you for your attention to my dilemma. His eye is not affected yet as far as I can tell. Although now that I have said that I do recall seeing a slight bit of eye goo. Mucous presumably. It brought to mind when I've had a head cold sometimes you get gooey eyes with it. Which makes me wonder if his sinuses might not be in flames somehow. Now when I say his eye isn't affected, thar is a mistake. His vision is very much affected. I give my two Jake's an Oreo cookie when they come to my sliding glass door. Cedar sort of ,sizes up the distance before grabbing a cookie from myhand (thank God ). His brother Not (aka Not Thanksgiving Dinner ) does the customary grab n go. I wish there were another way but i feel a vet trip coming. Spendy one too. Ah well. I just want my boy to have a fighting chance against predators. Hey thanks again for letting me ramble and or vent.:rant:lau:D
 
You may be dealing with an infection from the peck, or possibly MG (mycoplasma, a respiratory infection.) I would try to remove the pus from the eye, and flush it out with saline eye wash or homemade saline. Then apply s1/4 inch of plain Neosporin ointment to the eye twice a day. Here is a video of how to express pus from an eye:
 
Hi Eggcessive! I did try originally to see if any liquids were present to drain and found nothing. I had wrongly assume the minute the needle punctured the skin, my worst nightmares would come bursting forth. Not a drop
 
Bird pus isn't really liquid. It's more like cheese. The needle could easily have just stuck in it and slid out again without anything coming out the tiny hole. Have a look at this:
 
I tried. I really did try. Prepped the site, assembled my newly purchased medical grade scalpel, Turkey, Cedar, was stretched across my lap (after I drug 30 some pounds of recalcitrant he from the back yard to my living room. I pokedthe scalpel in, made a quarter inch incision, pulled it out and nothing! Didn't even break the skin! Tried two more times, gave it a squeeze and decided I was done. I'm calling the vet Monday. Clearly this is out of my league.
 
I tried. I really did try. Prepped the site, assembled my newly purchased medical grade scalpel, Turkey, Cedar, was stretched across my lap (after I drug 30 some pounds of recalcitrant he from the back yard to my living room. I pokedthe scalpel in, made a quarter inch incision, pulled it out and nothing! Didn't even break the skin! Tried two more times, gave it a squeeze and decided I was done. I'm calling the vet Monday. Clearly this is out of my league.
It's good to recognize when outside help is needed. Best of luck to you and your boy. :hugs
 
Glad that you can see a vet. I have seen a few online videos where people have had to make an incision to get the pus out, but the squeezing seems like it would be less invasive. Let us know what happens.
 

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