Chicken filled with ammonia smelling fluid?!?!?!

[andieschicks]

We had a 3yr old hen that was super lethargic, acting like she had an impacted egg and we were instructed to put her down. We dissected her to make sure we had the right idea of what was wrong, and she basically exploded with an ammonia smelling fluid. Her large intestines were filled with what seemed like days worth of poo. What could have caused this?

 

[Eggcessive]

Maybe she had egg yolk peritonitis or ascites? I have not heard of a similar odor, but others may have more experience with that.

 

[andieschicks]

Thank you. Reading about the ascites that does sound very similar to it. I'll pass the info along to those who make decisions ^_^