Golden Comet Necropsy - need help with what we found

[Swbertrand1]

WARNING: GRAPHIC Photos - not for the squeamish - you've been warned.........

Our 4 year-old Golden Comet, Rocky, came from a chicken hatchery as about a 3 week-old in 2019 with two others her same age. We lost one of her sisters about 6 months ago to a dog attack, while her other sister is fine. These were our only laying hens, hens we keep for egg production alone amidst all of our Silkies.

Rocky began having issues with lethargy and a slow-to-drain crop, so we began treating for that with regular massages, coconut oil, and moist feed. After a week of that, we did a more extensive exam of her and felt like we were dealing with water-belly (ascites). In fact, we were, so we ordered new winged butterfly sets since the one we thought we had left was nowhere to be found. We drained her abdomen about 4 days ago and took some 400ml of fluid out of her - yes that's 4/10 of a liter!!!

She was a champ through it all, but her condition didn't improve at all except that she'd spend time with the flock in the 2-4 hours we let them free range in our yard each evening. She was alert, eyes open, but just had ZERO energy, couldn't move very far/fast, and wouldn't eat anything but live mealworms on her own. We made the call to put her down last evening and do a primitive necropsy on her, just to get photos of her organs for input here.

The images are graphic, but we see what we believe to be two huge red flags in the photos: 1) the white "spots" on her organs and 2) the ping-pong ball size mass that I've got circled in photos 7, 8, and 15. This mass was like hard rubber, very difficult to cut and consistent in its firmness throughout. We think this was a tumor, maybe a lash egg (we were not super-certain what portion of her insides this was attached to, digestive tract, reproductive tract, etc as we're not chicken surgeons).

Will you folks give us your opinions on what you see?? Thank you so much!


@azygous, @Eggcessive, @casportpony, @Kiki, @coach723, @Wyorp Rock

 

[Kiki]

UPDATE: This came from my uncle, a retired Head of Pathology at a major Virginia hospital system. We sent him the same photos that you see above. This was his response:

l can't identify the origin of the primary tumor mass so it is hard to say what kind of tumor it is. If it came from the abdomen, it is probably a carcinoma of the intestine, pancreas, or other nearby organ. The picture of the intestines
shows multiple metastases, probably carcinomatoses. If you had a microscope and some tissue slides. we could make a more specific diagnosis.

It's probably Marek's or LL. They both look similar.

 

[Swbertrand1]

UPDATE: This came from my uncle, a retired Head of Pathology at a major Virginia hospital system. We sent him the same photos that you see above. This was his response:

l can't identify the origin of the primary tumor mass so it is hard to say what kind of tumor it is. If it came from the abdomen, it is probably a carcinoma of the intestine, pancreas, or other nearby organ. The picture of the intestines
shows multiple metastases, probably carcinomatoses. If you had a microscope and some tissue slides. we could make a more specific diagnosis.

 

[aart]

It's probably Marek's or LL. They both look similar.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[Anime2lover]

WARNING: GRAPHIC Photos - not for the squeamish - you've been warned.........

Our 4 year-old Golden Comet, Rocky, came from a chicken hatchery as about a 3 week-old in 2019 with two others her same age. We lost one of her sisters about 6 months ago to a dog attack, while her other sister is fine. These were our only laying hens, hens we keep for egg production alone amidst all of our Silkies.

Rocky began having issues with lethargy and a slow-to-drain crop, so we began treating for that with regular massages, coconut oil, and moist feed. After a week of that, we did a more extensive exam of her and felt like we were dealing with water-belly (ascites). In fact, we were, so we ordered new winged butterfly sets since the one we thought we had left was nowhere to be found. We drained her abdomen about 4 days ago and took some 400ml of fluid out of her - yes that's 4/10 of a liter!!!

She was a champ through it all, but her condition didn't improve at all except that she'd spend time with the flock in the 2-4 hours we let them free range in our yard each evening. She was alert, eyes open, but just had ZERO energy, couldn't move very far/fast, and wouldn't eat anything but live mealworms on her own. We made the call to put her down last evening and do a primitive necropsy on her, just to get photos of her organs for input here.

The images are graphic, but we see what we believe to be two huge red flags in the photos: 1) the white "spots" on her organs and 2) the ping-pong ball size mass that I've got circled in photos 7, 8, and 15. This mass was like hard rubber, very difficult to cut and consistent in its firmness throughout. We think this was a tumor, maybe a lash egg (we were not super-certain what portion of her insides this was attached to, digestive tract, reproductive tract, etc as we're not chicken surgeons).

Will you folks give us your opinions on what you see?? Thank you so much!


@azygous, @Eggcessive, @casportpony, @Kiki, @coach723, @Wyorp Rock

Tumors, a large one and a ton of tiny ones. Chicken organs aren't lumpy like the ones in those pics. Those are all tiny tumors in my opinion. Cause could be cancer, or something else.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Tumors, a large one and a ton of tiny ones. Chicken organs aren't lumpy like the ones in those pics. Those are all tiny tumors in my opinion. Cause could be cancer, or something else.

That was/is our thought, and that's what we're looking to find out from the fine folk here Thank you!

 

[MyFeatheryFriends]

I agree the small white dots all cancer spots. The rubbery mass was likely a lash egg with cancerous growth. The poor production birds are man-made for us but it comes at a price. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[Kiki]

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/lymphoid-leukosis-in-poultry#:~:text=Lymphoid leukosis is a neoplastic,, gross necropsy, and histopathology.

This is LL.

 

[Eggcessive]

Did the liver seem overly large? Chickens can suffer from a number of malignancies. Common ones are oviduct cancer, and lymphomas from Mareks or Lymphoid leukosis. Leukosis is also called big liver disease, and strikes chickens 4 months and older. Mareks usually shows up in young birds, although it can happen at any age where they are exposed. I’m not qualified to even guess a diagnosis here, but you might see something similar in another bird, where you could then consult your state vet lab for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Anime2lover]

That was/is our thought, and that's what we're looking to find out from the fine folk here Thank you!

That poor hen must have had it tough though.