Weird Growth on 6-day-old Polish Chick

[SnowflakeMama]

Hello,
We just hatched some Polish chicks this last week and today while cleaning up and checking for pasty butt, etc. we noticed a growth or lump on one of the chicks. It's on the back of the "shoulder" and is very squishy to the touch. It was actually hard to notice so it may have been there all along. The hatch went well in that all of them pipped, zipped, and busted free without any issues, however we had a huge storm about 3-4 days before hatch and we had no source of power/heat for about 10 hours. There don't seem to be any obvious development issues to do that though. Otherwise everything is normal, except for this lump. It looks veiny under the skin and I can see something dark, but it's not hard. I can't tell if it's full of liquid or air or what??

I had to save the pics as a PDF, which is attached below. Thanks in advance for any help or ideas!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I loaded your photo below.

Could be the crop. See if that goes down or disappears overnight after the chick has been sleeping for a while.

 

[SnowflakeMama]

I loaded your photo below.

Could be the crop. See if that goes down or disappears overnight after the chick has been sleeping for a while.

View attachment 3136930

Thanks for loading the pic, my phone wasn't cooperating and I'm too tired to figure it out today.

That would be great if it was the crop, I've never seen it like this on the back of the shoulder, but we've only had chickens a few years so my experience is limited. Is that normal? And I guess if it goes down overnight it's nothing to worry about?

Thanks again!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If it goes down overnight, then it's the crop.
Sometimes it can be a bit further back depending on how piggish the chick is.

 

[coach723]

MIght be a ruptured air sac. Sometimes chicks get them from banging into each other or other things. Sometimes they will resolve on their own. If it's not the crop, I'd suspect that.

 

[SnowflakeMama]

MIght be a ruptured air sac. Sometimes chicks get them from banging into each other or other things. Sometimes they will resolve on their own. If it's not the crop, I'd suspect that.

Thanks, I'll go read up on it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did it go down overnight?

 

[SnowflakeMama]

Did it go down overnight?

No, and the more we look at it the more I think it's full of air. So like Coach said maybe a ruptured air sac. We'll monitor for the next few days and hopefully it will resolve on its own. I thought it might be a tiny bit smaller today but we'll see with time.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, and the more we look at it the more I think it's full of air. So like Coach said maybe a ruptured air sac. We'll monitor for the next few days and hopefully it will resolve on its own. I thought it might be a tiny bit smaller today but we'll see with time.

Ah, well, then you should be able to find the crop in addition to that lump.
If it's air and she's not having trouble breathing, I'd watch it for a few days and see if it resolves on it's own. If not, then you may need to release the air.

 

[elephantapple]

hey! any update on your chick? mine has sobering that looks very similar and i found this thread when looking for answers.