Chicken Autopsy Results (WARNING: very graphic pictures)

[Elphaba2140]

Blue Myst-I think that the heart was the cause of her lung problems most likely. If that clot had been in there for some time (my guess) then she probably wasn't pushing her blood around very well thus the lungs were not getting perfused and that would cause the darker color.

 

[magicpigeon]

Very interesting post, sorry for the loss of your chicken

 

[darkmatter]

I always examine my butchered chickens innards for abnormalities. I was taught by my grandparents to throw out any with spots on the liver and not eat them. Your pictures, the lungs looked wrong and I would have discarded any of my chickens with spots on the liver like yours. I have never seen the hard free-floating objects in any chickens I've butchered like you showed. I also cut open the gizzard and look at the pretty polished rocks, my area has glacial rocks in the soil that originates as far north as Canada, so I sometimes see polished quartz, granite, and other agates.

 

[Blue_Myst]

@BirdNut: Thanks, BirdNut. It never gets easier. Her trouble breathing and gasping were pretty much the only symptoms, and those seemed to be chronic. When she got really sick the first time I put her on a dewormer and then a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Eventually her crop stopped moving and I had to try and move it for her--whether or not my massaging worked, eventually it started on its own again. She was fine for two weeks then the symptoms came back, and she didn't respond to the antibiotics this time. I had a stronger antibiotic on hand, but if the broad-spectrum wasn't doing anything, I figured it would only make whatever bacteria were inside of her more resilient.

@pinkwindsong: I'm sorry to hear about your donkey and mares

It's sad about the grey horses, I'd heard they get tumors easily. Melanomas, I think? I agree with you on the cancer issue--humans do get more attention than animals on the subject. I think I heard that ovarian cancer, even for human purposes, is often studied in older hens. I try hard to feed my chickens well, but sometimes you just can't delete all the factors.

@nurse_turtle: Thanks for the input on the blood clot! I thought it was normal in a recently deceased animal, but I wasn't sure.

@Elphaba2140: I hadn't thought about it that way, it's very possible! I'm not sure what would cause her heart to enlarge so much--besides the clot and the size, it seemed healthy.

@darkmatter: Thanks for the input. There was a suggestion of eating her but I put that idea down really quickly--looks like it's a good thing I did! That would be cool to see, the quartz and granite in the gizzard. Apparently we just have plain ol' boring rocks here.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

I'm sorry that you lost your hen.

Thanks for sharing the pics and anatomy info. I think this will be helpful to many.You are very brave.

 

[EweSheep]

This is very very interesting and thank you for sharing!

I would have to say CHF and lung cancer?

When I first opened this thread, I thought, oh, another egg oviduct problem that has been plaguing some of us for a good while.

 

[Gersbud]

So very sorry on the loss of your hen. You have more courage to do an autopsy then I. I couldn't do it. Glad you did and the pics were very interesting. Again sorry for your loss.

 

[crtrlovr]

So sorry for the loss of your hen, but thank you so much for sharing the necropsy results and photos.

 

[juliawitt]

Wow, you ARE brave!! We put down 2 chickens last night. My DH did the deed. I could not watch. It was so hot. I thought about necroscopy but couldn't do it. I would normally have started any sick chicken on vitamins and/or a broad spectrum anti biotic, but the heat made it impossible to seperate and treat. I just couldn't bear to cage. So initially, My SLW's chest got huge, not her crop. She had no symptoms. Continued to eat and drink. A little lethargic. I monitored her. Two weeks have passed with no change. However, the heat was really hard on her and the others were starting to pick on her. So we culled. I could not let her suffer. She was my least friendly chicken so she would not let us touch her. No one else is sick, so I'm crossing my fingers that whatever was wrong was not contagious. The other chicken we culled had impacted her craw months ago. Too hot for a chicken bra. She has continued to eat, drink and interact with the others but her craw was so distorted that the feathers were rubbing off and she looked very uncomfortable. So, we culled her also. It is so hard to make that decision. I feel bad for days. My hat is off to you. You did the right thing. I wish I had been able to perform necrosopy.

 

[Gmsg01]

The lung(s) closer to the ground tend to deplete with air more easily, so don't look quite as "spongy". Should still feel quite pliant and spongy though. Lungs with pneumonia or bronchitis tend to feel heavy and "stiff", and might ooze nastiness from bronchi on a cut surface. Masses in the lung tend to make it feel gritty or lumpy.

The liver looks like fatty infiltrate, which would probably be normal when considering the rest of her body condition.