Chicken autopsy - graphic pictures - is this normal? Fat/fatty liver? Please help

[JulieHei]

Dear all, today I lost one of my maran chickens. She was almost 1,5 years old. She was completely normal yesterday, bright red comb, laid an egg and was doing normal chicken stuff. Today she was barely moving, heavy breathing, pale comb, sleepy. I moved her to her own cage, and a few hours later she had some kind of seizure and died. The exact same thing happened to another chicken (same age) three weeks ago, she was normal the day before, laid an egg, her normal chatty self - and suddenly very sick and died. the exact same way. I was very concerned if this was something contagious, so today I decided to open her up and do an autopsy - the first one I have ever done. I opened her up six hours after she died. I took pictures, and I want to share them with you so that I can get advise from you, since I have no experience.

Some additional information: I have 24 chickens (26 until recently). The chickens are all approx. 66 weeks old, and I think a lot of them are molting now. I don`t get a lot of eggs these days at least (2-7 each day). The chickens live in a coop which is 18m2, with a run that is 33m2. They have access to the feed 24/7. This winter I fed them a lot of bread scraps, but I stopped in April, and after that they have barely had any scraps or other food than the normal chicken feed. They have not been let out to free range this summer due to avian flu in the country where I live. In addition I have experienced some crop-problems with chickens after free ranging, so I have tried to limit free ranging. All chickens are hatched here on the farm, and I have never bought any live chickens from others. The chickens are a lot of different breeds, and some are somewhat obese, while someone is skinny/normal. All the other chickens are acting 100% normal, and I don`t see any symptoms of any disease. At night they all roost together, and it is very crowded and warm in the night due to them all sitting so close. They have a lot of opportunities to roost in the coop, but all want to sit together as close as possible. This lead to a lot of discomfort due to the heat, and a lot of them breathe with open mouths in the night.

Then the autopsy:

I opened her up and I think all her organs look normal, except for the large amounts of fat, and I think the liver has a pale color. I do not think she had water belly. I do not think she had any problems with her ovary. I do not think she had any problems with the gizzard. The gizzard was hard and full of food and small stones/grit. I tried to open her intestine and it had a normal color (I think). I think she was very fat. I also think, when comparing the color of the liver with pictures on the internet showing a normal liver, that the liver had wrong color/was very pale. The liver was partly pale, and partly very red/black/bloody. I do not know if we made the colors of the liver change when opening her up/pressing on her - maybe we did something wrong that disturbed the color. Not sure. I would love to hear your thoughts on this - what could be the reason of her death? And if this is fatty liver - what can I do to save my other chickens from the same fate?

 

[Insnesnakos]

She probaby had fatty liver disease (which is what Google game me) You said she was very fat, that could've been the cause. So sorry to hear you lost a bird

 

[LaFleche]

She is way too fat and I suppose that the other hen died of the same issue: fatty liver syndrome.

Some dual purpose breeds like Marans don't do well when having access to feed 24/7 and feeding them lots of bread, corn, BSL and sunflower seeds will make them fat and very sick.

Breeds like White Leghorn usually do well with access to feed all day long as their genetics will convert any excess to eggs.

I am sorry you lost them.

 

[JulieHei]

Thanks for your reply I am sorry too - I hate that I "killed" them by giving them too much food. It`s hard when you have chickens that eat A LOT and chickens that eats small amounts living together Is there anything I can feed them instead to make them lose weight? I feel like if they don`t have anything to eat they will start pecking at each other and start bullying/fighting a lot more..

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss, and good for you for doing the necropsy. The blood clot next to the tan liver, and all of the fat are signs of fatty liver hemorrhagic disease. The one hen I had who had similar findings, did also have yellow fluid when I opened her abdomen. Limiting treats, especially high fat ones, and sticking to a balanced chicken feed as the majority of their diet is best.

 

[LaFleche]

Is there anything I can feed them instead to make them lose weight? I feel like if they don`t have anything to eat they will start pecking at each other and start bullying/fighting a lot more..

Yes, there is a lot you can do to make them lose surplus fat and entertaining themselves at the same time.

Start by feeding them only three times a day (morning, midday and evening) limiting the amount to 20 minutes each feeding. This might require some more feeders so the dominant birds cannot push the more timid away from the feed and everyone gets their fill.
Then take all the feeders away and give them apples without the core and whole carrots to peck at. You can hang the apples on a string so they will have to jump to get a bite.

In case they are not used to carrots and apples, you can start by grating them and serve with a tiny bit of germ oil to make all the vitamins available.

 

[JulieHei]

Sorry for your loss, and good for you for doing the necropsy. The blood clot next to the tan liver, and all of the fat are signs of fatty liver hemorrhagic disease. The one hen I had who had similar findings, did also have yellow fluid when I opened her abdomen. Limiting treats, especially high fat ones, and sticking to a balanced chicken feed as the majority of their diet is best.

Thank you so much. Do you know why the blood clot is there? Is it because of the liver suddenly rupturing? Or is it a build-up over time?

 

[JulieHei]

Yes, there is a lot you can do to make them lose surplus fat and entertaining themselves at the same time.

Start by feeding them only three times a day (morning, midday and evening) limiting the amount to 20 minutes each feeding. This might require some more feeders so the dominant birds cannot push the more timid away from the feed and everyone gets their fill.
Then take all the feeders away and give them apples without the core and whole carrots to peck at. You can hang the apples on a string so they will have to jump to get a bite.

In case they are not used to carrots and apples, you can start by grating them and serve with a tiny bit of germ oil to make all the vitamins available.

Thank you! I will try that. I also have some cabbage, is that something I can use the same way?

 

[LaFleche]

I also have some cabbage, is that something I can use the same way?

Yes, but other than with carrots or apples, I would only let them have small amounts of cabbage.

And maybe have some enrichment for the run so they will be able to jump or fly up on roosts or hide behind some objects to get out of the direct line of sight of the more aggressive/dominant birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you so much. Do you know why the blood clot is there? Is it because of the liver suddenly rupturing? Or is it a build-up over time?

Fatty liver hemorrhagic disease is a disease of bleeding or hemorrhage. Liver disease will cause that.