Hard Bony Mass on Silkie Rooster

[SheenaBee]

Good Morning Everyone,
This is my first post here, but I'm hoping that someone may be able to point me in the right direction or give me some insight...
I have a Silkie bantam Rooster (the most cuddly, loving little guy) that is about 7 months old. In the last month, he's had a hard bony feeling mass right beside his spine (maybe .5" away) and about 1/2 way between neck and tail. It's been getting progressively bigger. At the moment it about 2" x 1.5", it doesn't have an even shape at all so giving an accurate size is difficult. The skin underneath appears to be just fine, although there are a few feathers missing (for quite some time now) and some feathers nearby appear different than the rest of his body (larger shaft, not quite grown out). When I touch the area, his reaction gives me the impression that it is painful/tender. He is eating, drinking and pooping normally and seems to be otherwise in good health. He's been in the house for the last month and a half since he was depressed and listless outside while his favourite hen has been inside recovering from a severe attack from a neighbors dog, they both seem to be benefiting from the companionship.
Anyway, the mass is very, very hard and feels like bone to me but with the few missing feathers I'm wondering if it could perhaps be a feather cyst... but could a feather cyst feel as hard as bone? Any ideas what this might be?
There are no veterinarians nearby that deal with birds or poultry... is this something I should try to lance? (I have proper human tools... and some human EMS training/experience but chickens without any anesthetic are a whole new ball game for me). Help?

 

[azygous]

It could be anything from a malignant tumor to a harmless cyst. Either way, he's probably going to have to live with it until, in the event it's a cancer, it kills him.

To reassure you in small measure, I have a very old hen with a hard, slow growing mass over her eye. She's lived with it for over five years, and it doesn't appear it's going to kill her. I have had a cyst on the back of my neck for longer than that, and it doesn't appear it's going to kill me, either.

If the lump on your little guy was soft, I would agree to try to lance it, but a hard mass will have tissue, probably fatty, and it would be fruitless to try to lance it. If this little guy begins to lose his ability to walk and otherwise move, you will know it's invaded his spine. At that point, the kindest decision would be to euthanize.

There's every reason to hope it's a harmless cyst, though.

 

[SheenaBee]

I'm certainly hoping it's a benign cyst but I guess the speed at which it has been growing is what worries me. Appears I didn't mention it in my post...but it has more than doubled in size within the month.

 

[azygous]

Not an encouraging development. Has it seemed to impair his motor functions?

 

[feather13]

Have your chickens been exposed to Marek's? One of our pullets developed a hard mass like that in the same place as your rooster's. It was very hard, like bone, and developed very quickly, much more quickly than yours. She was egg-laying age, so I treated her for egg binding. She died within days, but we did not perform a necropsy. 20+ of the chicks we got with her have died of confirmed Marek's or odd things like hard, bony masses. There have been no symptoms of anything among the older, 2+ year old hens. I really hope your rooster recovers, but you might want to check out this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/. Can you take him to the vet's?

 

[SheenaBee]

I don't believe they have had any exposure to Mareks, but who knows I guess. The mass hasn't impaired any of his motor functions that I can tell... although he's never managed to successfully mount a hen (but he hasn't had much opportunity with any hen that's cooperative at all and he's pretty young). I did end up making a very small incision last night, just to ensure that it wasn't a blatant cyst or abcess.... and directly under the skin it had the appearance of bone as well. Hard, shiny, bluish. So I didn't proceed further. The minor 'procedure' didn't seem to phase him, especially since my son was feeding him mealworms while I worked. Anyway, after more research, I'm thinking it's likely Osteosarcoma due to appearance, location and frequency in poultry. Guess we'll play the wait-and-see game. Sad. He's such an incredible sweet little guy.

Found some interesting links if anyone is interested. Rare that I come across free avian medical literature.

http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/08/20_tumors.pdf

http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/25.pdf

http://avianmedicine.net/

 

[azygous]

I wouldn't have been able to stifle the urge, either, to take a small incursion into the mass to see what I could see. He probably didn't feel much discomfort.

If it's malignant, it won't remain isolated in his back. Chickens have short lives anyway. There's a chance his life won't be shortened by a whole lot. Just enjoy him while you have him.