Strange lumps on Silkie

[Karl-W]

I keep finding strange lumps on my Silkie hen. See attached photo. I have found four so far, one on her lower breast, and three on her neck. I find them when they start seeping blood. I have been putting Blu-Kote on them to stop the bleeding, but now I am wondering…Could these be ticks? Please help!

 

[NatJ]

Could these be ticks?

That's not like any tick I've ever seen.

A tick is a little bug that bites on with its mouth, leaving the abdomen to flop around (like a scab that's attached at only one end.) Then the tick fills up with blood, so it's more like a grape but still attached at one end. (Not as big as a grape, but similar shape.)

The tick stays on the outside of the skin.

I'm pretty sure that picture is showing a lump under the skin, with a scab on the surface of the skin where it started to bleed.

So I don't know what it is, but I'm fairly sure it's not a tick.

 

[Karl-W]

That's not like any tick I've ever seen.

A tick is a little bug that bites on with its mouth, leaving the abdomen to flop around (like a scab that's attached at only one end.) Then the tick fills up with blood, so it's more like a grape but still attached at one end. (Not as big as a grape, but similar shape.)

The tick stays on the outside of the skin.

I'm pretty sure that picture is showing a lump under the skin, with a scab on the surface of the skin where it started to bleed.

So I don't know what it is, but I'm fairly sure it's not a tick.

Thanks. My husband suggested they could be ticks. They look like a cyst or tumor to me, definitely scab in the center that bleeds. She’s acting completely normal and healthy otherwise.

 

[NatJ]

@Kiki @Eggcessive @azygous
Do you have any ideas what these lumps could be?
"Not ticks" is about as far as I can go

 

[azygous]

Most likely they are feather cysts caused by failure of pin feathers to erupt through the skin. Try making a tiny incision across the center dark spot, then take a tweezer and coax the dark center out. If it's a feather, it will pop up as it's freed.

If nothing happens but bleeding, and if the little lumps are rock hard, then you could be looking at cancer tumors. But try an incision on one more lump before you resign to it being cancer.

 

[Karl-W]

That’s very helpful - thank you!

I also had two Polish die of what looked like neurological Marek’s. Could this be cutaneous Marek’s do you think? We love this little Silkie and I am hoping she survives.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Following..never seen anything like this

 

[azygous]

Cutaneous Marek's would have other physical clues. These bumps appear too irregularly. Anything is possible. But this doesn't appear to be cutaneous Marek's to me.

 

[Karl-W]

That’s so helpful, thank you.