Inflated body. Air pockets under skin, 6 month old chicken

[nano852]

Hi everyone,
my chicken has a problem, air pockets under skin, that became notably visible one week ago.

At first it only appeared on her right side, covering from her rear, thigh, to near breast, and a separate small pocket on the back of her neck. But one week later, the air pockets expanded, and on her left side is appearing another one too.

I tried to extract all the air, but it just reinflates in no time. I have seen many posts about this, but, except one, all of those are not updated, leaving with no clear solutions. The one that I have excluded says that after removing the air, massage and press the area to avoid reinflation, but as I said, did not work.

She has no symptoms or strange behaviors, she is very active and happy all the time, like running around the house and escaping the box where she sleeps covered with cloth, and purring when I pet her neck. She normally eats vegetables, like cabbages, sunflower seeds, and corn, although sometimes she eats dirt from pots and steals my foods from my hands.

She did not received any major trauma, as she do not show any sight of uncomfortable.

Here I have some photos of her showing the affected area. I gave her a quick bath to make it more visible:

Left side:

Is there any way to cure this?
I would like to see your comments and solutions, and I am going to keep this post updated until the situation changed.

Thanks

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Is this what they call airsaculitis ? (leaking air from the crop) I had a baby do this and like you, I drained it with a syringe . unfortunately it passed about 3-4 days later. I hope you find the right answers. good luck.

 

[nano852]

Is this what they call airsaculitis ? (leaking air from the crop) I had a baby do this and like you, I drained it with a syringe . unfortunately it passed about 3-4 days later. I hope you find the right answers. good luck.

Thanks for commenting. I do not think airsacculitis is the case, she does not have any inflamed area, at least that is what I understood about airsacculitis. She has this problem since one week ago, and looks like it does not bother her.

Today I tried to deflate all tree spots mentioned in this post and seems that they reinflate slower than last time. I hope it is a good signal. But I spotted another air pocket just behind her neck. I do not want to prick that area, because veins and company are all visible.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

I hope someone is able to help. I will be checking in to see.

 

[dawg53]

This link might help:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...ns_of_poultry/breast_blisters_in_poultry.html

 

[Granny Hatchet]

@dawg53 can those be air filled ? Plus they are on the neck and legs as well as the breast...

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like subcutaneous emphysema or leaking air sac. It can be caused by trauma or injury, but also can be caused by an underlying infection. Puncturing the skin with a 22 gauge needle in a chick, or 18 gauge in a grown bird, and pushing out the air, then putting pressure over the needle site to help seal the puncture is common treatment. It is typical that it may come back. This chick sounds pretty ill of it has these over both sides of the body, however. I think a vet visit may be your only hope. Good luck.

 

[nano852]

This link might help:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...ns_of_poultry/breast_blisters_in_poultry.html

I think that is not the case, it is only air.

It looks like subcutaneous emphysema or leaking air sac. It can be caused by trauma or injury, but also can be caused by an underlying infection. Puncturing the skin with a 22 gauge needle in a chick, or 18 gauge in a grown bird, and pushing out the air, then putting pressure over the needle site to help seal the puncture is common treatment. It is typical that it may come back. This chick sounds pretty ill of it has these over both sides of the body, however. I think a vet visit may be your only hope. Good luck.

It is very similar to what you said. This couple of days I just poke a small hole on her skin with a sterilized needle and massage air out of pockets.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are some articles to read about subcutaneous emphysema (leaking air sac
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/171121/deflating-subcutaneous-emphysema
http://ijasvm.com/ijasvmadmin/upload/IJASVM_5113cbc51d31b.pdf
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/223/subcutaneous-emphysema/

 

[hannah311189]

We had this awhile back in one of our pullets, she wasn't sick or anything but just puffed up. We used needles to extract the air, but found it easier and more efficient to use a sterile surgical blade, we made a small incision under the wing and pressed out the air 2 days in a row (probably 2 times a day) and then covered the incision in neosporin. We kept an eye on any other signs or sickness or infection just in case antibiotics were needed and she recovered without meds. No problems or anything. That was probably over a month ago now or so.