Lump in the neck?

[icornish]

Just checked our chickens today, all laying nicely, no other issues noted.
However, one of them has what appears to be a lump in her neck, to one side of it. It's quite hard, but does not appear to be causing her any pain, though she is also quite skittish (A little more than she used to be). The crop seems normal.
Eggs seems to be coming thick and fast, so she's probably laying OK. She just seems slightly down.

Any thoughts?

Ian

[MaureenHall]

Is the lump more on the right side of her than the left? Did you feel it after she'd just had a good feed? If so, it's her crop, nothing to worry about. The time to start worrying about crop problems is if it still feels full or hard first thing in the morning or if she goes off her food or there's any smelliness coming from her mouth. If the lump is in a different place to her crop and is much smaller, then I think I'd get a vet to have a look, it could be a swollen gland, and glands don't swell for no reason.

[icornish]

It's more to the right looking at her head on, and it's still there this evening - it hasn't really moved/changed during the day. No sign of smelliness from her mouth, but she's a feisty little number, so I don't put my nose too near her beak :-)