Please help. Second hen in 3 days is dying.

[NorthwoodsChick]

Fatty liver isn't common in free ranged chickens. They eat a lot of bugs and grass which are healthy. Fatty liver is linked to High-energy diets in layers that get little to no exercise.Free ranging lowers their risks

Right! Same thing in humans in most cases with rare exception. Fatty liver is assoc with obesity, T2 diabetes (metabolic syndrome), high cholesterol.
Fatty liver does not occur overnight, or in a week or two. I can see it occurring in a month of high carbs and sedentary activity in chickens- like broilers, but it is not something that kill the bird without some other sign, and those signs would be heart failure- shortness of breath, duskiness/purple comb with minimal activity, fluid around heart on organ exam).
My girls never had that- it has to be toxicity of some kind.
thx

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Gross exam necropsy- graphic and pic heavy. This was done on a cold body about 60 hours after death.
External:
Vent not prolapsed. no wounds. eye, nose, beak comb normal.
Internal:
normal chest wall and abdominal gutters. Intra-abdominally there was caseous material with consistence of creamy soft boiled egg yoke on the mesenteric webbing and on/in the reproductive organs. (pics) There was a round thick walled sac with liquid yoke, and 2-3 irregular thick walled sacs with the same homogeneous caseous material—not layered. Liver had two areas of faint yellow stranding on the lobe edges, not at all like the first bird. IMO liver looked normal for 3 days pm. Heart, lungs, kidneys normal, no unusual visceral fat, trachea normal. Gizzard full-see pic. ? maybe too full?
bowel distended postmortem- no worms, no stool. Pale ovarian cysts, no yokes. ?

I have never personally seen lash eggs from my chickens.
Salpingitis- I think that’s the diagnosis which led to organ shut down. Reading on Mercks that seems likely.
I don’t fully understand if I should have seen lash eggs at some point—not sure the two things go hand in hand..?
Look over the pics pls, and comment on the caseous material.
Thanks for all the support everyone. I buried Livvy next to a wild raspberry bush near a pond…cried like a baby too.

 

[McChooky]

Gross exam necropsy- graphic and pic heavy. This was done on a cold body about 60 hours after death.
External:
Vent not prolapsed. no wounds. eye, nose, beak comb normal.
Internal:
normal chest wall and abdominal gutters. Intra-abdominally there was caseous material with consistence of creamy soft boiled egg yoke on the mesenteric webbing and on/in the reproductive organs. (pics) There was a round thick walled sac with liquid yoke, and 2-3 irregular thick walled sacs with the same homogeneous caseous material—not layered. Liver had two areas of faint yellow stranding on the lobe edges, not at all like the first bird. IMO liver looked normal for 3 days pm. Heart, lungs, kidneys normal, no unusual visceral fat, trachea normal. Gizzard full-see pic. ? maybe too full?
bowel distended postmortem- no worms, no stool. Pale ovarian cysts, no yokes. ?

I have never personally seen lash eggs from my chickens.
Salpingitis- I think that’s the diagnosis which led to organ shut down. Reading on Mercks that seems likely.
I don’t fully understand if I should have seen lash eggs at some point—not sure the two things go hand in hand..?
Look over the pics pls, and comment on the caseous material.
Thanks for all the support everyone. I buried Livvy next to a wild raspberry bush near a pond…cried like a baby too.

Much respect for honoring your girl and burying her in such a wonderful setting! Sorry for your loss!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd say Egg Yolk Peritonitis.
There's quite a bit of fat as well, which can contribute to decline over time but I agree with you, the liver looks pretty good.

I know this was hard to do.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I'd say Egg Yolk Peritonitis.
There's quite a bit of fat as well, which can contribute to decline over time but I agree with you, the liver looks pretty good.

I know this was hard to do.

Thank you. I was wondering if the yellow inside was yoke or infection. There wasn’t a horrible odor. Egg yoke peritonitis makes sense now