One of my older Australorp hens developed a strange growth on her leg, near her "spur". At first, it looked like a small lump, which I thought might have been an abcess, so I tried draining it with a needle. No luck. It was a hard mass, and nothing really came out but blood. It kept growing and growing until it inhibited her walking. It must have been very painful, because the poor hen pecked it bloody. I was thinking about culling her, but the next time I looked, the "thing" was gone, leaving only a large strip of raw skin. Recently, it has grown back to twice the size it was previously. Does anyone have any ideas as to what this is? Is it cancer? (She hasn't seemed sick in the past, but now she is pretty droopy.)

I'm not sure it is cancer, but I have a hen that has a similar growth on her thigh. It got the size of an egg before I found it. It never kept her from laying eggs, just a bit of a nuisance for her to walk. My husband has worked with reptiles in his job (he gets all the surgeries) so he performed a small lumpectomy and she's been doing fine. I haven't been able to cull my flock (except for all the roosters I get) because I've made pets of them all.
Anyway, I've rambled...if your chicken is functioning okay, you may try removing the growth or if you're very curious, you may take her to the vet and they could do a biopsy on the growth..some viruses (as in warts) will behave that way.

Thanks alot for the reply! I know what you mean about not being able to cull the flock--my birds are my babies! I don't know if I really could have done it. How would I go about removing the growth myself, or do you mean have it removed by a vet?
Thanks again.

I had the vet remove one...cost me $20, but she's made up the difference with eggs and pullets. The vet had a big time with her trolling around his office...she is quite the charming one!

How did this hen turn out? Did you ever find a vet that would treat her? I had a sick hen months ago and had to go to six vets before I found one that would even treat fowl, let alone was an "expert" on them. The vet may be expensive, but if they're your pets, they're worth it.

well, she's looking very droopy, and the growth has just rocketed! It is very disgusting and I'm sure that it's painful...I am wondering if it's even worth treating!

I guess that's a personal decision. If it happened to one of my hens, she'd be at the vet. Our vet charges $22 a visit and that usually covers any meds or treatments in the office. If you can afford it, do it. If not, you might want to try what I've heard pigeon racers do with pigeons to cull them. Give her an extra strength tylenol or two and she'll probably just go to sleep and not wake up again.

I haven't found any luck finding a vet who will take poultry afflictions seriously...I guess they're not used to people feeling so much affection for chickens. I'm having an emotional battle over this! She has looked and acted the same way in the past, and then, gotten better. At one end, I feel bad to let her suffer, and at the other, I hope that she might snap out of it. But I suppose that for the health of the rest of my flock, I should do the deed...

hey my only is my pet. this is your choice and your choice alone but if your not a farmer with the farmer mentality that if the treatment is more than the chicken is worth for producing then i say treat your pet like a pet dog

We have a favorite 2.5 year old rooster with a strange growth that started on his foot pad. it was small, now is getting very large and taking up most of his pad. It continues to grow out from the pad and looks like dead black dry material. When we peel back the perimeter it appears as if there is healthy tissue beneath it. Got a vet to talk to me but not see the bird,he thinks it is "bumblefoot" which is a bacterial process, that creates an abscess and leaves a series of scars,it will go up the leg and is very hard to treat with a poor prognosis per the vet. I think the growth looks more wart like, with layers. I will need to chip away at this now, it has gotten so large. Has anyone used any of the human wart products on their birds. Has anyone seen this? the bird is very healthy otherwise,any suggestions. No one is interrested in seeing a chicken or rooster. I called the local vet school, they only do dead birds for study. Thanks