Broiler processed and found tiny heart with lots of fluid in pericardial sac

[NDgoatgirlNV]

I processed a broiler that was having trouble walking last night and when I was skinning her I found that the normally clear connective tissue that in near the neck and crop was almost fibrous and kind of had a snap to it when my knife touched it. This just seemed odd to me as in all the years I have processed home raised birds, I have never experienced this...
Also, When I was gutting her, and removed the heart I noticed that her heart was very tiny for a bird her size and that her pericardial sack was filled with a large amount of clear-ish fluid... large in the fact that it was three times the size of her very small heart. All the organs appeared healthy and with good color. Her poop was very runny and had a slightly yellow/orange-ish color to it and was VERY smelly ( probably a large cecal poo IMO).

I was just wondering if anybody else has had these weird findings when processing a home raised broiler chicken. This bird was almost 15 weeks old and very small compared to the size of the 3 others we have left to process tonight ( she was maybe 5# while the 3 others are around 12-15# each) It hasn't been too cold here, mid 40's during the day and high 20's at night... my birds are raised in my garage, so the temp stays pretty constant.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I might suggest you call your state veterinary lab and ask to speak with the poultry pathologist. Giving him/her the symptoms you found, they would likely be able to provide guidance.
Here's yours.
https://www.usu.edu/uvdl/

 

[casportpony]

I would do as @ChickenCanoe suggested, but next time you find something like this, take pictures and email them to the lead avian pathologist at your state lab. That's what I do when I find interesting "things", and I almost always get a reply email telling me what they think it is.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would do as @ChickenCanoe suggested, but next time you find something like this, take pictures and email them to the lead avian pathologist at your state lab. That's what I do when I find interesting "things", and I almost always get a reply email telling me what they think it is.

I once hatched a chick with 3 legs. One was normal, the other two were more like club feet with 2 or 3 enlarged toes and one of them basically grew out from near the vent. I put it down and offered to send it to the vet school. I thought it would be a good teaching aid. They weren't interested. The pathologist said, "If you hatch enough, you'll see lots of things like that."

 

[casportpony]

I once hatched a chick with 3 legs. One was normal, the other two were more like club feet with 2 or 3 enlarged toes and one of them basically grew out from near the vent. I put it down and offered to send it to the vet school. I thought it would be a good teaching aid. They weren't interested. The pathologist said, "If you hatch enough, you'll see lots of things like that."

I guess they're all different. The one I use at UC Davis loves it when I send him pictures, and once asked if they could use my blackhead pictures for a paper they were doing on blackhead in peafowl.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well, you do excellent work in that regard.