What The Heck Is That???? UPDATE!!

[PineBurrowPeeps]

It's funny you should post this... I was thinking of doing the same thing. I have a 3 week old Salmon Faverolle Roo chick with the same thing you have going on. Golfball sized, soft, round protrusion in the lower abdominal area, next to the keel bone. Like yours, I too can clearly see intestines and even feel his gizzard in his "lump". I too have processed MANY birds and find what is going on with him to be flat out bazzar!
He runs, eats, drinks, poop, sleep on the ground on soft shavings and hay, etc.
I am thinking about opening him up for explorative surgery tonight to see what is going on in there and if I can fix it.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Air in the bubble is 'breast blister". It's not a blister as you think of it. That area of the chicken has a "bursa", a space between two membranes that happens to normally have the tiniest bit of air in it. When it's irritated or inflamed, it will swell.

But looking at the closer pictures, I'm not so sure.

Have you tried emailing someone from an ag college? It almost looks like her intesintal membrane is missing or has split and allowing her intestines to sit against the skin. But you would think she would be very ill from it.

IN a case like this, I wouldn't dare recommend anything as I'm not a vet and this seems to be an exceptional situation.

I'm with you in that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that its genetic.

 

[Damummis]

Quote:
Let me know what you find. If I have to cull her I will, but I am up for anything as opposed to doing nothing. She was an extra in my chick shipment but she is really sweet and if I can fix her I will.

 

[Damummis]

Quote:
Air in the bubble is 'breast blister". It's not a blister as you think of it. That area of the chicken has a "bursa", a space between two membranes that happens to normally have the tiniest bit of air in it. When it's irritated or inflamed, it will swell.

But looking at the closer pictures, I'm not so sure.

Have you tried emailing someone from an ag college? It almost looks like her intesintal membrane is missing or has split and allowing her intestines to sit against the skin. But you would think she would be very ill from it.

IN a case like this, I wouldn't dare recommend anything as I'm not a vet and this seems to be an exceptional situation.

I'm with you in that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that its genetic.

Great idea about the ag college, never thought of that. That is why I like BYC. Great ideas!
Thank you

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Okay, I just spent about an hour checking out my own bird, opening him up, and putting him back together...
My findings were not good.

When I opened my bird his gizzard and several loops of intestine were up between the breast and the skin.
So I made my opening bigger to see if I could put him back right, what I found was that his keel bone is defective and curls up into his body cavity, which is small anyway. There is no way his small loops of intestine were going to fit in the available space, let alone his gizzard. All I could do was put him back the way he was and close him up

Now he's in the hospital and we'll see if he makes it or not. I had to make my incision about 2" long, from the middle of the keel bone to about 1/2" in front of the vent, a large incision for such a small chick, took about 8 stitches to close him up.
Looking at the way he was set up, I doubt he would have made it to adulthood like that, any rough jolt of whack and I think he could have done deathly serious damage to himself. I did't feel bad in the least exploring the issue and I'm glad I did now. If I hadn't and I just found him dead one day I would have always wondered what was up with him.

 

[threehorses]

In normal chickens, there should be a membrane there between the skin and the guts - the gut membrane. I really suspect, from what I can tell from here, that this is missing or had a hole (true hernia) that has increased as the bird has aged.

I'd suspect an avian vet could suture this (as they do with puppy hernias) but who knows at what expense or success rate.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

if it is a hernia
the bad thing is gangreen if it gets pinched off
and the chicken will die

what is supposed to have happened to this chicken?

also I would imagine it will have to be culled as how can you keep it from getting gnagreen and it being heat of summer

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

My bird has it's gut membrane and I couldn't find a hole, I was very careful to only cut skin and not the membrane because I knew about it.
Hopefully the others persons case is a true hernia and not a skeletal issue like mine was.
I usually handle all my own chicken medical things. Personally, it's not worth it to me to bring a chicken to the vet (if I could find one to see a chicken), If I cannot fix it myself, then the bird is put down.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
What gets pinched off? The intestines I am assuming you are talking about?

I have the bird in my hospital cage, which is inside my house, which is air conditioned but it's cool out here in RI currently.

I will give him a chance to heal and if he looks the slightest bit off I will put him down. I have done this type of thing before. Being a extra Rooster who has some conformation faults and things, he wouldn't be kept by me anyway.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I have to admit that I was originally planning to cull the bird if I found an obvious defect, which I did, but he has such a will to live I figured I would give him a chance to heal up and go about living with his guts outside his ribcage

Call me cruel, but I just thought I would let him try, first sign of distress and I'll let him go though.