Very swollen leg, feather cyst?

[darlingdarla]

I don't know what this is.
This d'Uccle hen had a bumblefoot infection which I removed, it all went well and she is nearly healed up, she'll be out of her bandage in a couple days.
Now she has a pretty large mass on the side of her leg where her feathers are, I'm thinking it's a feather cyst of some kind but have no idea what to do about it. Her feathers have been having trouble growing in because of the bandage, I've been trying to avoid bandaging the area but she is a master at getting out of the wrap. I've pulled out one of her feathers twice before after they started curling under her skin and have been coating her with triple antibiotic ointment.
Today I noticed this mass, it's pretty large for such a small bird (her feet are very small). I don't know what I should do for it. I removed her old bandage and wrapped the foot again, and smothered the area with green goo.
I considered cutting it to see what comes out but it's such a large area, and I feel like bandaging it would just make it worse. Also she isn't limping or acting like she's in pain. She's eating and drinking normally and laying eggs.
So what is this and how do I help her?

And this is her scab today, she'll be all healed in a few days.

 

[darlingdarla]

It was worse this morning. She still wasn't limping or acting any different than normal, but I decided to cut it and see what happened.
It was a feather cyst, but there were more than one. I removed the feather that was the source of the mass and cleaned it out, I pulled out a bunch of cheesy gunk that was about the size of a marble under her skin.
Then I noticed more, smaller ingrown feathers going all the way down her leg. I lanced most of them and pulled out lots more gunk from each. This developed over two days, I feel like that was very quick for the number and volume of cysts she had.
I think I got them all and I packed each wound with antibiotic ointment and wrapped in gauze and sports wrap. She's back with the flock now. She isn't limping, but it's obvious she's favoring her good foot.

I'll be keeping a close eye on her over the next few weeks, but I have a couple questions if someone could answer.
How quickly will her feathers grow back? I really don't want to do this again, but I can't take the bandage off because she'll get infected.
Will this happen again? Like will the cysts be a recurring issue in that foot?

Here's her foot before I removed the cysts, after I soaked the foot.

This is after

This is the some of the gunk and a few of the impacted feathers. There was a lot more than this.

 

[darlingdarla]

This is her leg today...


The swelling is way down. She's not limping or acting hurt in any way. I changed her bandage and let her loose.

 

[Allthefloofs]

This is her leg today...
View attachment 2336105View attachment 2336106View attachment 2336107

The swelling is way down. She's not limping or acting hurt in any way. I changed her bandage and let her loose.

This was really informative. We have a bantam cochin frizzle that has a similar swollen area and I figured it might be bumble foot, but no scab. I am now thinking it is a feather cyst as it is occurring right where the feathers are coming out on one of her toes. Thanks so much for the pics and I am so happy to see that her leg looks so much better!

 

[darlingdarla]

This was really informative. We have a bantam cochin frizzle that has a similar swollen area and I figured it might be bumble foot, but no scab. I am now thinking it is a feather cyst as it is occurring right where the feathers are coming out on one of her toes. Thanks so much for the pics and I am so happy to see that her leg looks so much better!

I'd never had a feather cyst on a bird before this, I've had ingrown feathers of sorts but never such a large mass. I was worried it was an infection or something, but the cysts were easy to get out. Once I knew that this happens I checked my other feathered feet birds, I have six, and sure enough my black copper marans (who also has a bandage on her foot right now due to bumblefoot) had a tiny cyst at the start of her toe. That one was easy to remove, I didn't even need to lance it.
The d'Uccle had about nine all on top of each other, it's really odd, I feel bad for her.
I hope your frizzle does well! When I was researching yesterday I read that cysts are most common in frizzles and silkies because of their funky feathers.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

This is her leg today...
View attachment 2336105View attachment 2336106View attachment 2336107

The swelling is way down. She's not limping or acting hurt in any way. I changed her bandage and let her loose.

Ouch! Poor thing. I'm glad that the swelling has gone down. Hopefully, she feels better now that she doesn't have all those impacted feathers in her leg anymore.

 

[darlingdarla]

Ouch! Poor thing. I'm glad that the swelling has gone down. Hopefully, she feels better now that she doesn't have all those impacted feathers in her leg anymore.

I hope so. She's part of the first brood I raised and the sweetest thing, I'm kinda hoping her feathers just don't grow back so we don't have this issue again. I just hope I didn't miss any.

 

[Allthefloofs]

I'd never had a feather cyst on a bird before this, I've had ingrown feathers of sorts but never such a large mass. I was worried it was an infection or something, but the cysts were easy to get out. Once I knew that this happens I checked my other feathered feet birds, I have six, and sure enough my black copper marans (who also has a bandage on her foot right now due to bumblefoot) had a tiny cyst at the start of her toe. That one was easy to remove, I didn't even need to lance it.
The d'Uccle had about nine all on top of each other, it's really odd, I feel bad for her.
I hope your frizzle does well! When I was researching yesterday I read that cysts are most common in frizzles and silkies because of their funky feathers.

Such great info! It also means I will check our two girls a lot more so it doesn’t escalate.

 

[LiizardWiitch]

It was worse this morning. She still wasn't limping or acting any different than normal, but I decided to cut it and see what happened.
It was a feather cyst, but there were more than one. I removed the feather that was the source of the mass and cleaned it out, I pulled out a bunch of cheesy gunk that was about the size of a marble under her skin.
Then I noticed more, smaller ingrown feathers going all the way down her leg. I lanced most of them and pulled out lots more gunk from each. This developed over two days, I feel like that was very quick for the number and volume of cysts she had.
I think I got them all and I packed each wound with antibiotic ointment and wrapped in gauze and sports wrap. She's back with the flock now. She isn't limping, but it's obvious she's favoring her good foot.

I'll be keeping a close eye on her over the next few weeks, but I have a couple questions if someone could answer.
How quickly will her feathers grow back? I really don't want to do this again, but I can't take the bandage off because she'll get infected.
Will this happen again? Like will the cysts be a recurring issue in that foot?

Here's her foot before I removed the cysts, after I soaked the foot.
View attachment 2335076View attachment 2335084

This is after
View attachment 2335086View attachment 2335088

This is the some of the gunk and a few of the impacted feathers. There was a lot more than this.
View attachment 2335102

What was your method used for lancing and cleaning put these cysts