Weird tumor like growths on hen's shoulder

[twiley]

I've been searching the internet all afternoon without luck, so I decided to join BYC in hopes of finding out what's wrong with my 1.5 y/o barred rock hen.

At first I thought her bone was actually protruding from her "shoulder" but on closer inspection I found two tumor like growths that are hard and dry, surrounded by a small scabby area. One is white-ish in color and the other is purple-y, both are about the size and shape of a large pencil eraser but sort of pointed. She seems annoyed by them as she was pecking at one and trying to twist it off, but besides that, she's acting completely normal and doesn't appear to be in any pain.

I gave her a bubble bath with some of my dog's medicated shampoo diluted in the water and trimmed the feathers around the area. Then I flushed it with an antibiotic spray and doused her with betadine.

If my treatment doesn't help, I'm going to take her to the vet, but I wanted to see if anyone has any advice as to what could've caused this or how to help her.

Thank you for any insight!!

These photos aren't the best, but hopefully they show what I'm trying to describe:

 

[GitaBooks]

Could she be being over-bred by a rooster? Could she have had feathers pulled and the openings been infected? Was she pecked by another chicken? Could she have been bitten by a snake or predator? Could she have tumors (some diseases cause these).

You did a great job taking care of her, but I have heard dog medication can be poisonous to other animals.

 

[GitaBooks]

And Welcome to BYC!

 

[twiley]

Thank you for responding!! She is the alpha of our flock so I doubt her sisters are picking on her and we don't have a rooster. She absolutely could've been attacked by something and I was actually wondering if a spider or insect could've caused this, but I'd imagine an insect bite would probably have pus inside, and these are just really hard and solid.

I hope the dog shampoo was ok, I know you're not really supposed to mix medications between species, but this was just a diluted antibacterial/antifungal soap.

Thanks again and I'll post of the vet figures out what's going on

 

[twiley]

Well, I took a closer look at these two bumps yesterday after researching some more. One is almost definitely an ingrown feather because it started emerging, so I decided to leave it alone. As for the other bump, I still can't figure out what to do about it. Does anyone think it could also be an ingrown feather? It looks very different from the other one, but I found part of a fitting description online: "Feather cysts appear as oval or elongated swellings involving a single or several feather follicles."
(http://www.merckvetmanual.com/pethealth/birds/disorders_and_diseases_of_birds/skin_and_feather_disorders_of_pet_birds.html)

The red-ish lump is an elongated shape, but I haven't found anything that resembles it in any photos. Should I leave this one alone too? A lot of the forums I've read say people are lancing or poking these cyst-like things with a needle and I'm not excited about trying that.

Thanks in advance for any more help!

 

[TwoCrows]

I have a hen that had an ingrown feather near her vent. It started out like a tiny cyst which I just left alone. I didn't know at that time it was an ingrown feather but it did not resemble fly strike, so I just left it there. But a month or so later it grew to about the size of a small pebble and something began to emerge from it. It figured it must be a feather, I wasn't sure, but it had to come out of there. So I started to pull on it. And out came nearly a 2 inch curly feather!! Where the feather meets the skin was a bit infected so I put some ointment on the area and it did heal over. The feather is still curly, but at least it is out of there and not infected or causing pain.