Welsummer hen has enlarged wattle? What should I do?

Liberty-Chicken

In the Brooder
Aug 11, 2023
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Hello everyone!
I have a Welsummer hen who has an enlarged wattle. I only noticed it about a week ago and when I checked up on her again yesterday it was much larger. She doesn't look or sound sick, she doesn't sneeze and she does normal chicken things. I felt her crop; it was full and healthy, but she shakes her head occasionally and scratches the swollen wattle a lot. The other chickens in her coop are completely healthy and lay eggs, I don't know if she does. I also noticed that she has diarrhea. I'm thinking that a spider bit her.
What do you guys think she has?
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Hello everyone!
I have a Welsummer hen who has an enlarged wattle. I only noticed it about a week ago and when I checked up on her again yesterday it was much larger. She doesn't look or sound sick, she doesn't sneeze and she does normal chicken things. I felt her crop; it was full and healthy, but she shakes her head occasionally and scratches the swollen wattle a lot. The other chickens in her coop are completely healthy and lay eggs, I don't know if she does. I also noticed that she has diarrhea. I'm thinking that a spider bit her.
What do you guys think she has?
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Sorry no one answered! I don’t know anything about this but maybe @fluffycrow can help?
 
Could be a reactive bug/spider bite. It could also be a hematoma, although I would expect it to be more bruised looking if it were a hematoma. Check her carefully for lice or mites, either of those parasites could cause head shaking which if vigorous enough could cause blood vessels to rupture and form a hematoma. Either way the swelling is probably irritating her and causing her to shake her head.

Do you have a needle you can use to aspirate or lance it? If it's a hematoma it will be filled with blood. If it's a bite it may be filled with clear or yellowish fluid or it may be solid inflamed tissue.
 
Sorry for the late reply. I aspirated the wattle with a syringe, and I managed to drain two syringes full of yellowish fluid. I noticed that the top part of the wattle was hard (maybe a tumor?) I got a little bit of pus mixed with blood from that area, but that was it and the syringe wouldn't pull any farther.
I am working on sending the pictures. Thank you for helping out!
 
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Here are some more pics:
 

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Hey!
Update: I felt her wattle again today. The tumor is much larger, but I don't feel any fluid. This is getting urgent. We are thinking about removing the wattle (with the tumor). We would have to do that either tomorrow or next week because we are leaving on vacation this Sunday. If we do surgery how do we stop the chicken from losing too much blood?
What should our next course of action be? Please reply as soon as possible!
 

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