Spontaneous liver rupture in otherwise healthy hen

quiminco

In the Brooder
Mar 21, 2016
7
1
11
Western NC
I had a 1 year old buff orpington hen who died of a spontaneous liver rupture and subsequent internal hemorrhage; it was confirmed on necropsy. I know this sort of thing is typically associated with obesity and fatty liver, but she was only slightly overweight (I feed corn-free New Country Organics layer and they free-range, no table scraps. She was an incredibly voracious forager though). She had no signs or symptoms of anything wrong before it happened- the evening before she was as active as ever, laying and eating normally, not a hint in the world that something was wrong. I found her about ten minutes before she died the next day.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? It's kind of scary, and sad.
 
Sorry about your hen. So, with the necropsy, was anything mentioned about fatty liver hemorrhagic disease, or did you do it yourself? I have not seen this before, and hopefully others will post if they have. Fatty liver is more common in caged chickens and in white egg layers. Besides excessive eating, mycotoxins or mold fungus can be a cause. Could the hen have gotten hold of rat poison or eaten a mouse who had consumed it? Are there any plants she could have nibbled on which might be toxic? Has she ever had coccidiosis or been treated with antibiotics which might have decreased her vitamin K? Here are good links on fatty liver disease, and I will check back for others' response:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...f-fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/58/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...oultry/219/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
 
Sorry about your hen. So, with the necropsy, was anything mentioned about fatty liver hemorrhagic disease, or did you do it yourself? I have not seen this before, and hopefully others will post if they have. Fatty liver is more common in caged chickens and in white egg layers. Besides excessive eating, mycotoxins or mold fungus can be a cause. Could the hen have gotten hold of rat poison or eaten a mouse who had consumed it? Are there any plants she could have nibbled on which might be toxic? Has she ever had coccidiosis or been treated with antibiotics which might have decreased her vitamin K? Here are good links on fatty liver disease, and I will check back for others' response:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...f-fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/58/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...oultry/219/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
Sorry about your hen. So, with the necropsy, was anything mentioned about fatty liver hemorrhagic disease, or did you do it yourself? I have not seen this before, and hopefully others will post if they have. Fatty liver is more common in caged chickens and in white egg layers. Besides excessive eating, mycotoxins or mold fungus can be a cause. Could the hen have gotten hold of rat poison or eaten a mouse who had consumed it? Are there any plants she could have nibbled on which might be toxic? Has she ever had coccidiosis or been treated with antibiotics which might have decreased her vitamin K? Here are good links on fatty liver disease, and I will check back for others' response:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...f-fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/58/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...oultry/219/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
Sorry about your hen. So, with the necropsy, was anything mentioned about fatty liver hemorrhagic disease, or did you do it yourself? I have not seen this before, and hopefully others will post if they have. Fatty liver is more common in caged chickens and in white egg layers. Besides excessive eating, mycotoxins or mold fungus can be a cause. Could the hen have gotten hold of rat poison or eaten a mouse who had consumed it? Are there any plants she could have nibbled on which might be toxic? Has she ever had coccidiosis or been treated with antibiotics which might have decreased her vitamin K? Here are good links on fatty liver disease, and I will check back for others' response:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...f-fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/58/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...oultry/219/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome/
 
This just happened to my backyard hen. She was free range and not overweight. Necropsy showed healthy organs except that her liver looked “blown out” and had hemorrhaged. She active she well the day before and even had a full crop. So strange and sad.
 
She was half bantam English Game Hen, half Barred Rock. 2 years old. Svelte and active. My chickens eat organic layer pellets and run around my yard eating grass and bugs.
 
Seems really common in prime laying hens, and especially in Orpingtons. I lost one this way, I gave her so much extra stuff to eat. A friend of mine is actually an avian vet, he lectured me a little about that. He said chicken feed and vegetables only. I do cheat of course, but I don’t make them macaroni and yogurt parfaits anymore.
 

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