8 1/2 mo old black sex link pullet has lump...

[chickenjen]

I have one lady that has always been really small compared to the others but she is towards the top of the pecking order and gets more than her fair share of food. However, she never really developed out like the others. She is still a lot smaller and has almost no meat on her breast. I noticed her yesterday looking off like she had a chunk missing but I was unable to catch her. Today I caught her and figured out it is not that she has a chunk out of her but rather a lump.

The lump is on the right side of her lower neck/upper chest and it is almost of an egg but but not rock hard. It is firm but still a little squishy. She was not phased by my pushing around on it. I can not really describe exactly where it is but it is not affecting eating or drinking at this time.

This picture is not of her but of another one. The point of the picture was to make a circle where the lump is and a proportionate size of the lump. The lump is almost round.

She is pretty happy go lucky and even though we both have grim looks on our faces about her, we agree we will let her keep peckin' along until such time as she looks to be miserable and then we will lay her to rest.

Any ideas on what this might be?

 

[Dora'smom]

Are you absolutely sure that isn't her crop with some food, maybe a ball of grass, in it?

 

[Terri O]

Sure sounds to me like you caught her with a crop full of whatever she had been eating. Just be sure that the lump goes down. Fell her right in the morning when they first get up. It should be empty then. If you cant get her right off the roost you could try to isolate her so you can catch her easily to check her before she eats. If it doesnt empty and there is nothing coming out then you need to do a search for impacted crop. Terri O

 

[chickenjen]

Well, I guess I thought the crop was a bit farther down than that. I will keep an eye on her. Being she is so thin, that could easily be why it is showing so much. She has muscle tone though! Put up a fight when I caught her at first.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[chickenjen]

Well, I just wanted to say thank you for the assistance. It must be her crop because today it was little. Must just be she is so freaking skinny that it shows a lot more than the others. She is the little lady we call Number 1 (because that is the ankle tag I gave her being she is so little).