What the HECK is this on my hen???

[Melgug]

She’s been off for a while now. Had serious mating injuries that have healed up great. Just noticing this on her breast after doing a check in on her. It’s hard and like a big circle lump. Never was an injury there before. What is it???

 

[casportpony]

That looks like a breast blister. Let me go find a couple of links.

 

[casportpony]

Here they are:

• https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lister-graphic-pictures.1096276/post-16850510
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rescue-chicken-abscess-pic-included.1599452/post-27198488
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/infection.1599835/post-27206280

 

[Melgug]

Here they are:

• https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lister-graphic-pictures.1096276/post-16850510
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rescue-chicken-abscess-pic-included.1599452/post-27198488
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/infection.1599835/post-27206280

Thanks so much!

 

[HollyWoozle]

Hey @Melgug, sorry about your hen. I just cleaned out a similar breast blister on our new rooster (I posted one of the topics linked to above). It’s not a nice job but if the wound is full of pus I don’t think it will heal. A few days after ‘surgery’ and our roo seems to be doing OK.

 

[coach723]

Here is another link, the first one above doesn't seem to be working for me :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ister-graphic-pictures.1096276/#post-16850510

 

[casportpony]

Here is another link, the first one above doesn't seem to be working for me :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ister-graphic-pictures.1096276/#post-16850510

Thanks.

 

[Melgug]

Hey @Melgug, sorry about your hen. I just cleaned out a similar breast blister on our new rooster (I posted one of the topics linked to above). It’s not a nice job but if the wound is full of pus I don’t think it will heal. A few days after ‘surgery’ and our roo seems to be doing OK.

Yes I think it’s a breast blister. Do you know what causes these? I am not looking forward to cleaning this out.

 

[coach723]

It's like bumblefoot, but on the breast. Usually pressure or irritation from resting or rubbing on roosts, or for some birds from not roosting and laying in bedding, particularly if it's damp or soiled. Heavy birds may rest on the roosts just because of their weight, or some birds may do it due to foot or leg issues, like bumblefoot which can make it hard for them to roost properly. I had a roo with bumblefoot start to develop one due to that. Padding the roost may help, an old bath towel, or something similar. Something that they can't pick pieces off of, wrapped around the roost.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Yes I think it’s a breast blister. Do you know what causes these? I am not looking forward to cleaning this out.

In our case the rooster (who we just rehomed from some poor conditions) has weak legs and sits down a lot which put a lot of pressure on his body. He was lying just on a dirt floor all the time. We are hoping he will roost, once he gains strength, and for now we have him on a thick layer of clean bedding and with the bandaging quite well-padded.

Cleaning it out was easier than I’d thought and your hen’s wound looks similar. What I wasn’t prepared for (and which makes total sense) is that only about half of the lump could be cleared out - the bottom half of it is just swelling, inflammation of the sternal bursa if I understand correctly.

I used clean tweezers (only used for my animal first aid kit) and another little metal tool, all cleaned with chlorhexidine surgical scrub, to gentle pull away/out the pus, then I flushed the wound thoroughly, packed some triple antibiotic ointment in the hole and bandaged. The bandaging is the most difficult thing in my experience so far, since it’s hard for someone to hold them still whilst you wrap around their body under the wings. I’m about to experiment with a stick-on dressing later today which I think might work since the skin around the wound is bare. I’ve ordered some dressings designed for pressure sores in people but they’ve not arrived yet.

I had my fiancé hold the roo and we did it when it was quite dark (I had a head torch) to help keep him calm. It was my first time doing something like this and my tips would be to prep all your equipment and the space before getting the hen involved, to limit time and stress to her, and to be confident in what you are doing. From reading many posts on here over the years, and with @casportpony sharing info with me on my original thread, I kinda knew what I was dealing with and was able to get the job done without too much fuss which I think was good for us all.

That was Monday and we checked and applied a new bandage on Wednesday. The bandage looked and smelled really clean and roo has been eating well, but I removed the scab (thinking it looked very similar to original wound) which I think was a mistake. Underneath it was all very clean. I flushed, dried and applied more ointment and a fresh bandage - I’m hoping today that it looks similar and this time I will leave the scab and just apply ointment and a dressing.

Hope that helps and good luck. Oh and wear disposable gloves!