Tumor/ cyst : Can my rooster survive or will I only prolong its pain?

Hi everyone,

I discovered my month old rooster this morning with a bleeding anus and what appeared to be a prolapse. This particular breed of chicken has an incredible amount of plumage; so I didn’t spot the issue sooner! The rooster had been a bit more sleepy/ puffed up feathers lately. But I had chalked it down to the cold weather of late.

Anyhow, after separating him from the flock and upon closer inspection; what I saw protruding from the vent doesn’t appear to be a prolapsed intestine but a very unfortunately placed tumor or cyst growing inside but near the end of the vent; partially clogging it. The bleeding seems likely to be from pecking at it.

I called a friend who breeds chickens for his opinion; which was to cull the animal because treatment will be very costly and likely to result in death anyway. And without treatment it seems very likely to him that the problem will only get worse.

I’m inclined to believe him; but having only just spotted the issue and without having had time to observe the animal first; I find it hard to condemn the animal to death so quickly. The thing that puts me off of culling him immediately is that the rooster still seems lively and responsive; and eager to fly out of its cage when given the chance. When I give him food, he gobbles it up eagerly. I haven’t seen him poop yet, so I don’t know yet to what degree the growth near his rectum is blocking him from passing excrement.
Unless I pay a costly vet; I have no way of telling if the growth is a cyst or a tumor. And I imagine these things don’t go away or shrink on their own without intervention?!
Am I doing the right thing by taking a few days to observe the animal to see if he could be able to live with the growtth without it giving him too much discomfort; or am I just prolonging his inevitable and probably painful death due to constipation or infection? Or even worse still: am I currently making him suffer more by letting him live a few extra days to observe when there is no chance of him getting better anyway? He doesn’t seem like he’s suffering right now as he seems very responsive and with an appetite, but I’m definitely no chicken expert!! Being 5 months pregnant sure doesn’t help in making difficult rational decisions about a sweet animal I’ve raised from chick!!

Any advice to help me make the right choice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

It is part of a chicken's mind-set to act like they're not sick because chickens tend to attack and chase off sick chickens. This doesn't help the decision-making process.

If you're fairly sure the bleeding is from the other birds pecking at him, you could make a version of the chicken diapers found online (a holey sock is the usual starting place). This would cover the area and stop the pecking and also give you some idea of whether he's pooping normally still.

If he's just acting a little tired and being fluffy part of the time, taking a few days to observe more closely and say your goodbyes is not something I'd classify as cruel, however, the cases of cysts and tumors I've seen or read about will not go away on their own, but are also not normally fast-moving, so again, this is not a "deal with it right now" problem - you've got time to decide.

I've also read that chickens don't tolerate surgery all that well, not to mention the cost is greater than the value of the bird. If this bird was hand raised that helps, but there's no real way to explain surgery or determine pain levels post-op, not to mention he'll need to be isolated and cared for by you at home post-op. My cost/benefit to the bird balance tends to err on the side of "he can't give his consent, so it's not fair to take the chance".

End of life killing of animals is something that homesteaders need to plan for and find ways that work for them. There's a video somewhere on permies about humane killing of chickens by putting them in an apron on your lap and getting them completely calm and then quickly slitting their throat. That said, if an animal is special to you, asking a friend to do the task for you, is not unreasonable. I've offered to do so for others. If you've not killed a chicken before, starting on a chicken that's special to you isn't the easiest way, I don't think, but there are many factors.

Thanks for weighing in, Jay.

I just gave the rooster a soak in a warm bath to clean and inspect the area a bit better.
There is definitely no prolapse, but the tumor/cyst is about the diameter of a small pinky finger. It is round like a small pebble and only partially attached like a little sack; so not halfway embedded or something like that; if that description makes sense.
I am somewhat worried by the color of the growth, it’s not nice fleshy pink/red. It’s crusty/ scabbed black with some yellowish white which I assume is some sort of dried mucous. I did non touch it too much to see if I could rinse it off because I did not want to hurt the rooster.

I still saw some new blood which seemed to come from behind/ around the growth. But just a small amount.

I used some disinfectant after I cleaned around it, and then applied some honey around it in the hopes of avoiding infection.

After I dried him off and warmed him up in front of our fireplace, he pooped (on my skirt, ofcourse! ). He didn’t seem to noticeably struggle or strain while pooping, and the poop itself was really normal looking.
So for now it doesn’t look like he’s blocked up.
I did see him try to peck at his butt once or twice this evening.

I’ll keep him in observation for a day or two to see if his condition gets better or worse. If it comes to having to cull him, so be it. But I just want to give him at least a chance. And I just hope he’s not too much in discomfort in the meantime!!

If I'm interpreting your description correctly, this might be something that could be removed at home. Is it shaped in such a way that you could put a band around the "neck" of the growth? If so, you could choke off the blood supply to it, and it would fall off after a few days. You'd need to keep a close watch, and make sure the spot stays clean until it heals completely, but that's certainly doable.

It sounds like he wants to keep going. The birds I've had that died, they were always lethargic toward the end. I'd be inclined to give a feisty bird a chance.

IF it were a tumour, from a genetics perspective, culling would make sense - you don't want to breed anything that may have bad genes.

I thought I’d give an update on our little rooster. After all of your advice and after observing him a little longer and seeing him acting in a good way (he had an appetite, he pooped, he was moving around) I decided he should get a chance to get through this. I thought of trying the banding technique Ellendra described; but since this is my first year raising chickens, and I couldn’t positively confirm what I was seeing was actually a tumor — so I bit the bullet and tried to find a veterinarian who would be willing to take a look at him. I figured that the money I’d pay for the vet would not only hopefully help our rooster, but it would give me a chance to closely observe whatever intervention would be necessary and learn a thing or two about treating chickens in the meantime.

I’m happy I trusted my gut instinct to not just cull the rooster straight away when I was advised to do so; because after a bit of searching— turns out few vetenarians want to bother with chickens because of their assumed ‘economical value’— I got lucky and found a vet that happened to also be a chicken enthousiast raising showbirds. He took a look at our rooster and told us it wasn’t a tumor or cyst after all, but a wound that had gotten scabbed over and pecked at repeatedly, causing it to bulge in such a weird way. He treated the wound and gave us some antibiotics, and told us that if the rooster could manage to gain some weight there’s a good chance he’ll heal from this.

I knew our little rooster — being only 5 months old and of a slow growing breed- was at the bottom of the pecking order together with his sister in our mixed flock. But I have never seen the other hens pecking him in the butt. Unless the pecking happened in the coop at night… So I’m not sure exactly how the wound happened.
Anyhow, the important thing is that he’s now warm and cosy inside. We also separated his sister — who is even smaller than he is — from the flock to avoid her being bullied even more by the other bigger hens now her brother is no longer around. I’ve put them together now, and the little rooster has noticeably perked up from her company. They ate their bellies full without having to fight for every scrap, and now they are snoozing contently on their roost. I hope to keep them inside for a bit until the rooster’s wound is healed and they both have managed to put a little more weight on so they’ll be stronger. I’ve got my fingers crossed our little rooster makes a full recovery. We’ll have to keep a lookout that his antibiotics are working and the wound doesn’t get infected. Any signs I should look for to spot an infection?

Thanks again everyone for the advice! I’ll keep you guys posted on the progress

I get that vets are pricey, but oftentimes the education you get is well worth the "price of admission" - regardless of the fee(s) charged, and the "value of the animal".

We all like to think we can save money by self doctoring (and many times that MAY be true) but there are times when one must bite the bullet and seek a professional opinion/assessment - there is a reason vets go to school for 8-12 yrs.

I am so glad you consulted a vet, it was the right thing to do. In my opinion deciding a creatures worth based on their "replacement cost" is wrong. Perhaps instead we could value our livestock for their contribution to OUR well being more often, and be willing to invest a bit in flock/livestock health...

I am SO glad your little ones are doing so much better!