Chicken died with bloated stomach.

[Dave RI]

I had a bantam Americana that has had a bloated looking lower abdomen area. It's been like this for quite a while. She just died the other day at a year-and-a-half-old. She's only laid one egg about the size of a robin egg. I opened her up in this big softball-size mass of yellow came out. It was solid like a hard boiled egg Center. Same color and smelt that way too. Does anybody have any idea what caused this?

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC, and sorry for your loss. That appears to be a large mass of egg material called a lash egg, usually from salpingitis, an inflammation of the oviduct. She was an internal layer. That can lead to egg yolk peritonitis. Here is some reading about that:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/12/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard.html
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/internal-layer-poultry
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/salpingitis-in-poultry
http://scoopfromthecoop.nutrenaworld.com/tag/internal-layer/

 

[Dave RI]

Welcome to BYC, and sorry for your loss. That appears to be a large mass of egg material called a lash egg, usually from salpingitis, an inflammation of the oviduct. She was an internal layer. That can lead to egg yolk peritonitis. Here is some reading about that:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/12/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard.html
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/internal-layer-poultry
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/salpingitis-in-poultry
http://scoopfromthecoop.nutrenaworld.com/tag/internal-layer/

Thanks for the information. She was always hanging out with one of my silkies who was broody. I didn't know why her abdomen was so hard. Now I want to check all the rest of my flock to make sure they didn't come down with it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Internal laying and egg yolk peritonitis are very common in today's laying hens. Many over the age of 2 years are affected, although it is possible in young ones more rarely. It is not contagious, but sometimes there will be others in the flock affected.