cut open my dead hen.....think I discovered what her problem was

[llnmaw]

*******edit to say that there are graphic (to some) images added below******

We've been nursing along our ailing 3 year old Orpington nearly a month now. Nothing we did seemed to help. She finally died last night.

I've previously cut open a few other birds that had been culled for various reasons and this bird looked different.

One question I had is that when we began to cut into her a large amount of yellow/clear fluid came gushing out. I would imagine all told there was nearly 3/4 cup. I know this is not normal, but wondered if it is normal for the situation. She had been dead for several hours. She died sometime in the night and we had to wait most of the day to investigate. The other birds we have autopsied have always been done immediately after death. So.....fliud in the cavity normal for this situation or part of what killed her.

The other significant thing was that it appears as though her intestine was tangled and adhered together. Instead of a long free intestine there was a bundle that was knotted. It had normal looking poop in it in the various places we cut in. She began her ilness with watery poop a month ago and recently hardly pooped at all. We figured that was due to not eating.

I have pictures if any one is interested!! They are graphic...of course...but I'd be happy to post for anyone who would like to see.

Also wondering, how does the intestine get tangled like that? I could not lay it out in a straight line at all.

Poor thing hung in there for so long........

 

[dawg53]

Sounds like she had water belly. Sorry for your loss.

 

[llnmaw]

Any thoughts on if the water belly and tangled intestine are related?

 

[Eggcessive]

I have read about egg yolk peritonitis in some cases (not all) causing liver failure and ascites or water in the abdomen. Peritonitis is a massive infection which can be sterile or from bacteria such as E.coli. Peritonitis causes havoc inside the abdomen with infection, and there can be intestinal obstruction from all that infection. This is one scenario that may have happened, or there could have been other reasons for the bowel obstruction. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Fowl Mouth]

Poor girl. Sorry she didn't make it, but at least you gave it a good try and I'm sure she knew that.

At the risk of being somewhat insensitive, I would be very interested in seeing the photos... if you feel they are too graphic to post here, feel free to PM me. I'm always interested in necropsy photos so that if/when the time comes I need to perform one myself, I may have a better understanding of what I'm looking at.

 

[llnmaw]

[/IMG]

Here are a couple of shots. I dont think it insensitive at all, hopefully they wind up being useful to someone. I always appreciate when there are photos to look at.

Perhaps you cannot tell from the image but it was a really tight bundle of intestine. I'm shocked she was able to poop at all!

We did try hard to help her but now see that there was to be no help for her and take a little bit of comfort in that.

 

[llnmaw]

Huh, only one image showed up. Here is another one

 

[Eggcessive]

Doing a necropsy does help you to realize that there was nothing you could have done. The intestines look quite necrotic and enlarged. Thank you for sharing the pictures. Hopefully someone who has done these necropsies on this type of illness before will chime in.