Hen weak, sneezing — need diagnosis help!

[RDchicken99]

Hello BYC

Unfortunately, a tree fell on one half of our coop, so with the birds sectioned off into the adjacent room the conditions have been a little tighter and dustier than normal.
About a month back one of my hens started exhibiting the symptoms of sour crop. I got her on Monistat and she got better in a couple of weeks, so I put her back in with the flock.
She had been sneezing, but I attributed that to her crop being full of fluid and the smaller living space. Until now, she was a little slower than her usual perky self, but apart from that was acting normal apart from the occasional sneeze.

This evening I noticed her stumbling, and she let me pick her up, which is not the norm for her personality. She’s lost a bit of weight and is squinting her eyes.

I’ve separated her from the rest of the flock and gave her a bit of straw to scratch in and water, I’m going to check her crop in the morning and will get a picture of her poop.

This one has me scratching my head. I’m looking into the deworming dosage for her as well as the rest of the flock, and potentially treating her with Corid, but I haven’t seen any bloody poops.

Any help will be much appreciated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Photos may be helpful.

Is she eating/drinking o.k.?
Has she been laying eggs?

I'd recheck the crop to make sure it's emptying. Do look in her eyes to make sure there's not something in them like dust/debris/bubbles. See that her nostrils are free of mucous/blockages.

Corid will treat Coccidiois, it's not a dewormer nor an antibiotic. Getting a fecal float to see if worms and/or Coccidiosis are contributing to her decline is a good idea.

 

[RDchicken99]

Photos may be helpful.

Is she eating/drinking o.k.?
Has she been laying eggs?

I'd recheck the crop to make sure it's emptying. Do look in her eyes to make sure there's not something in them like dust/debris/bubbles. See that her nostrils are free of mucous/blockages.

Corid will treat Coccidiois, it's not a dewormer nor an antibiotic. Getting a fecal float to see if worms and/or Coccidiosis are contributing to her decline is a good idea.

She is not eating and drinking at the moment, and now I doubt she’s been laying.

Her eyes are clear, her nostrils look clear but there’s a tiny bit of clear discharge coming out of one of them.
I checked her throat as well and couldn’t see any blockages, but it looked a little mucous-y.

Her crop is empty and I checked her for egg binding just in case and she’s not egg bound either.

I couldn’t get a good picture of her poop as it got mixed into her straw, but it’s runny and quite green in color.

On dewormers, is there any over-the-counter brand you’d recommend? I’d like to treat her but I’m worried that giving her a chemical treatment with her weakened state might not be the best…

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her stance reminds me of a hen that is having reproductive problems. I'd consider giving her Calcium Citrate with D3 for 3-5 days.

Worms may be a contributor to her decline. Getting a fecal float is a good idea if possible.

Most folks with backyard poultry use Fenbendazole (Safeguard Liquid Goat dewormer or Equine Paste) or Albendazole (Valbazen).

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm - Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
----OR----
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

 

[RDchicken99]

Hey, sorry for the late reply.

Unfortunately she had to be euthanized.
I gave her calcium on Tuesday, but she was very weak and was allowing me to freely manipulate her head and beak, and would not stand, and when I checked on her about twenty minutes later, she was lying down and barely breathing.

I went ahead and did a necropsy, here are the pictures:

Spoiler: Necropsy

This growth was the most notable thing, it was attached to her stomach lining.

Here it is cut.

And this as well. It looks like an egg yolk, but was attached to her stomach lining. It was filled with a thick, pus-like substance.

And here is what I believe to be her ovary (please correct me if I’m wrong)

Is it possible that the growth might’ve been cancerous?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your hen.

I'm tagging in @Eggcessive and @coach723 to take a look and give their thoughts/input as well. I've done quite a few necropsies, but there's always something to learn.

What you are calling stomach lining is the oviduct. Looks like an "ovum" (yolk) was released and was found in the oviduct.

The growth you are noting, did you happen to cut it open? Looks almost like a soft membrane filled with, not sure - pus, albumen? Did you see any yolks or material in the abdominal cavity?

Yes, that does look somewhat like the ovary, if it is, then it was not functioning well.

I'd say she was having some type of reproductive problem. Likely cancer which is so frustratingly common in laying hens.


Below is a link to a thread where Kathy posted a chart of sorts (chart is the photo), you may be interested in looking at that.

Link to what reproductive system looks like, it's a good read along with photos. https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

Lastly, the video linked at the bottom. It's a professional necropsy. I like that the he has the organs labeled and the video has tabs so you can skip to parts you want to hear and see. I've found it to be a useful resource over the years.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...omas-in-laying-hens-graphic-pictures.1064118/

 

[RDchicken99]

The growth you are noting, did you happen to cut it open? Looks almost like a soft membrane filled with, not sure - pus, albumen? Did you see any yolks or material in the abdominal cavity?

Yes, I did cut it open. And no, I did not see any yolks in the cavity, I was looking for them as well.
Thank you for all of your help!

 

[Eggcessive]

I have limited experience with necropsies, but it would be good to see other pictures of the major organs, liver, intestines, etc. The last picture does look like a possible malignancy. The egg membrane and the yolk are probably from salpingitis infection. Your state vet can do a more thorough necropsy, or if you have more pictures, a local poultry dept at a vet school may look at some of the pictures. If you do some searching online, you can find many vet school pictures of chicken necropsies to compare with what you find. Sorry for your loss.