➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[theuglyduckling]

Alright. Bear with me, this was spur of the moment and I have limited experience with bird anatomy. Definitely not a proper necropsy.
I did the best I could with the fading light!

Spoiler: Chick necropsy

Ginger said he found her face down exactly where I had left her this afternoon. Her legs were stretched out behind her.

She was so tiny I couldn’t get down to her lungs. I could’ve ripped everything out, I just didn’t feel like it. I highly doubt I would have found telltale signs of respiratory disease on a day old chick anyway.

Cut from throat to umbilical. Accidentally cut into the abdomen a little, ignore that. The crop (left of trachea and windpipe) was totally empty, no food or shavings.
View attachment 1466423

Note the dark veins coming from the umbilical. Normal or yolk infection?
View attachment 1466424

Cut up from the accidental slice to the left of her breastbone. Her bones were so soft, I could just bend them back..
Her liver looks fine to me. Her intestine is pulled out a little, and I cannot figure out what the greeny tinted organ is to the right of her intestines.
View attachment 1466425

Freed everything out of the membrane. Heart had no clots or anything, looks okay. Maybe a little pale?
Spleen and liver below heart are fine, I think. Liver didn’t look yellow.
Intestines looked totally normal, except for that white membrane/string toward the top. I’m not sure what that is.
Still don’t know what the greenish organ is to the right of intestines. It was very firm, not sac-like at all, I didn’t think to cut it open.
View attachment 1466427

Better view of white string membrane. Is that the empty stomach or some sort of intestinal/Cecil pouch? I couldn’t find any stomach, not sure what to look for.
Greenish large firm organ still to the right of intestines. Gizzard? I don’t even know. Looked through tons of necropsy photos and gizzard is the closest looking thing but doesn’t sound right at all?
View attachment 1466428

So yea. Don’t laugh at my stupid questions. I’ve researched a decent amount but can’t really find chick necropsy guides/photos (did find one on byc that @casportpony did a while back).

I feel bad for saying this but i kind of find this interesting. I never seen the inside of a baby chick this young before.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I guess that’s what it was then. I suspected (it was connected to the intestines after all) but I was not expecting it to be so big.

What do you think of the dark veins coming from her umbilical around her yolk? Signs of blood infection or normal?
The few yolk infection pics I could find showed an obviously greenish dark yucky looking yolk. Hers was bright orange for sure.

I just wonder if the dark veins were from the blood coagulating after death. Unfortunately it would have been so much easier to tell right after her passing.

 

[Kiki]

I feel bad for saying this but i kind of find this interesting. I never seen the inside of a baby chick this young before.

Don't feel bad. It IS extremely interesting.

 

[Tesumph]

I don't see anything that looks like an infection.

The stuff on her butt....was it blocking her from being able to poop?

No, I triple checked. She could poop perfectly fine, although I only saw her poop once.

That is so amazing to see the newly absorbed yolk sac!

I have no idea what I’m looking at as far as the non-normal internal organs, but those dark veins coming up from the umbilical don’t seem healthy to me. The yolk sac looks fine though which is why I would say it was more an infection in the umbilical than the sac itself. If that’s the reason for the dark veins in the first place.

Dark spider web veins coming from an unhealed umbilical scream blood infection to me. That’s all I can really think of, just a weak chick with the start of an infection. Maybe I’m wrong, I’m not sure.

The veins higher up on the yolk that are thick and red look fine though.

I feel bad for saying this but i kind of find this interesting. I never seen the inside of a baby chick this young before.

I find it fascinating as well.
I can’t get over how my husband thought I would be too upset to handle it. He definitely wasn’t expecting me to ask for the body back lol.
I asked if I freaked him out, he said “if you were gonna scare me off you would’ve done it when you sawed that raccoons head off when we were dating.”
Hey, I wanted the skull.

I’ve really gotta ask him not to “take care of things” for me in the future..

 

[Kiki]

No, I triple checked. She could poop perfectly fine, although I only saw her poop once.

Dark spider web veins coming from an unhealed umbilical scream blood infection to me. That’s all I can really think of, just a weak chick with the start of an infection. Maybe I’m wrong, I’m not sure.

The veins higher up on the yolk that are thick and red look fine though.

I find it fascinating as well.
I can’t get over how my husband thought I would be too upset to handle it. He definitely wasn’t expecting me to ask for the body back lol.
I asked if I freaked him out, he said “if you were gonna scare me off you would’ve done it when you sawed that raccoons head off when we were dating.”
Hey, I wanted the skull.

I’ve really gotta ask him not to “take care of things” for me in the future..

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

No, I triple checked. She could poop perfectly fine, although I only saw her poop once.

Dark spider web veins coming from an unhealed umbilical scream blood infection to me. That’s all I can really think of, just a weak chick with the start of an infection. Maybe I’m wrong, I’m not sure.

The veins higher up on the yolk that are thick and red look fine though.

I find it fascinating as well.
I can’t get over how my husband thought I would be too upset to handle it. He definitely wasn’t expecting me to ask for the body back lol.
I asked if I freaked him out, he said “if you were gonna scare me off you would’ve done it when you sawed that raccoons head off when we were dating.”
Hey, I wanted the skull.

I’ve really gotta ask him not to “take care of things” for me in the future..

I think she was a weak chick that had the beginnings of a blood infection. I wish we had been able to see her lungs for signs of underdevelopment which could explain the pale heart. Lack of proper circulation.

 

[Tesumph]

I think she was a weak chick that had the beginnings of a blood infection. I wish we had been able to see her lungs for signs of underdevelopment which could explain the pale heart. Lack of proper circulation.

Hm. Didn’t think of that. I was thinking there would be no mucus or lesions from a lung disease on a one day old chick.

She was so tiny I was having trouble not ripping things apart. Oh well.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Hm. Didn’t think of that. I was thinking there would be no mucus or lesions from a lung disease on a one day old chick.

She was so tiny I was having trouble not ripping things apart. Oh well.

It’s okay! I would have also doubted that she would had any lung disease at a day old as well. The animals I’ve dissected have all had some ripping as well. I think you did an amazing job!

 

[Tesumph]

It’s okay! I would have also doubted that she would had any lung disease at a day old as well. The animals I’ve dissected have all had some ripping as well. I think you did an amazing job!

Thanks lol. I would’ve preferred a proper dissection just for the sake of science, but I only had a huge butcher knife and it was getting dark fast.
I really need to keep scalpels around for this reason.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks lol. I would’ve preferred a proper dissection just for the sake of science, but I only had a huge butcher knife and it was getting dark fast.
I really need to keep scalpels around for this reason.

So what is the verdict?