Question:

I’m 46 years old and have been raising poultry all my life but have never came up with an incident that happened a couple of months ago. It was one of my young black shoulder males. I went out one morning to feed and he looked swelled. I didn’t think too much about it because I was in a hurry that afternoon. The next morning he was really swelled. I put him up by his self and that afternoon when I got home he was twice his size. It looked like a medical glove you have blown up to it’s fullest. You would mash on him and he was plump as could be. The cage I had him in had a light on the back side. He was standing between me and the light. There were an 1″ difference in his skull and the top of the skin. I thought it was fluid so I took a hypodermic needle and tried to suck some of it out but there were none. I called several of my friends who raise fowls and none of them had ever heard or seen anything like this. I had a walking wobbling balloon and didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get a hold of my vet so I tried another one in this area. He was a young doctor just a few years out of school and come to find out he specialized in poultry in college. He told me exactly what it was. He said poultry has air vessels that run along the back to help them cool off. He said one of these has burst. He said sometimes they heal back and sometimes they don’t. He told me to take the needle part off a hypodermic needle and stick it under the skin and squeeze as much of the air out as I could. I did this off and on for 2 days. My bird is doing fine now and I guess that goes to show that you experience something new everyday. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

James

Answer:

James,

It sounds like you found the solution to your problem and no, I’ve never heard of anything like this before, has anyone else??  Thank you for sending this in!

This Q&A originally appeared in the December 1999 Issue of Peafowl Today, the UPA newsletter. Reproduction elsewhere in any form without prior consent from the UPA is strictly prohibited. © 1999 The United Peafowl Association. All rights reserved.