Rosemary's Necropsy Photos....WARNING! GRAPHIC!

Nwchickma said:

I'm so sorry for your loss. Has anyone thought to contact a university that has a Poultry science department or a vet school where people send their animals for necropsy? Just wondering if someone at one of these institutions would brainstorm with you and maybe fill in some blanks? I am an ANSCI major from purdue (going on 10yrs ago!) And remember professors talking about helping people who were seeing strange things in cattle. Just a thought

Click to expand...

speckledhen said:

Wow, what an old thread! I've been through this many times since Rosemary. Internal laying is genetic/hormone based, no prevention, no cure. Since my hatchery stock has passed (all but one very tough almost 8 yr old Brahma who was a year younger than Rosemary), I have seen this almost not at all. The answer? Get better stock.

Click to expand...

Nwchickma said:

Sorry! I should have checked the date! Not sure how I even stumbled into it after all the years

Click to expand...

Canachick said:

Thanks all for posting to this thread. Although the information is dated, it was very useful. We have had about 6 chickens die in the last year from unknown causes. We lost another one today and I was more than concerned by this point. I decided to to a necropsy and found exactly the same thing (not knowing what I was looking for until I started pulling out the large masses of the yellow/whiteish hard substance). I immediately thought tumour, but now understand the issue a little better. Being in Canada, we have a little different conditions and extremes that I thought played a role. All of the chickens that have died were from the same place (not a hatchery, but a chicken farm) so I'm not sure if genetics played a role, but could very well be the case. At any rate, we have been doing everything we can to keep the coop clean, keep the chickens healthy and not forcing laying. The article about extending the light times was great as we were just about to do that thinking it might help. I guess it's one of those things that is part of having chickens. The breeds that were affected were Isa Browns and Leghorns. I could post pictures but they are pretty much the same as the ones that were posted...it's crazy how much of that mass came out of that hen!

This is a great forum, and we use it all of the time to solve our chicken problems! Thanks to all of the contributors!

Click to expand...