Chicken had inflamed intestine, what caused this, how can I prevent it. She also had lots of gas

[LhickenChicken]

I had a 3-year-old hen, Mabel, that was showing strange symptoms. She was lethargic, and had some kind of yellowish-green poop stuck to her backside when she normally doesn't have poop stuck at all. There were no other symptoms displayed, but she wouldn't even eat raspberries which she normally loves. Today, I decided to end her misery. Upon inspecting her, she had very inflamed intestines, and lots of gas. How do I prevent this, what is the cause, and how do you cure it when it does happen?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Did you take any pictures of the organs during the necropsy? Did you open her crop or gizzard? Was any of the bowel black or bloody inside? Coccidiosis and enteritis are two illnesses that usually affect young chickens. Could she have eaten something like rat poison or something poisonous? Did she have any yellow ascites fluid come from her abdomen when it was opened? It would be hard to know exactly what was going on with your hen without a professional necropsy by your state vet or provincial lab pathologist.

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[LhickenChicken]

Sorry for your loss. Did you take any pictures of the organs during the necropsy? Did you open her crop or gizzard? Was any of the bowel black or bloody inside? Coccidiosis and enteritis are two illnesses that usually affect young chickens. Could she have eaten something like rat poison or something poisonous? Did she have any yellow ascites fluid come from her abdomen when it was opened? It would be hard to know exactly what was going on with your hen without a professional necropsy by your state vet or provincial lab pathologist.

I didn't take any pictures, nor open up her crop/gizzard. I didn't really look at the bowel... No rat poison is anywhere. I don't use it. No yellow ascites fluid either. Only the intestines were really inflamed.

 

[Eggcessive]

I hope that others will chime in about your chicken.

 

[LhickenChicken]

I hope that others will chime in about your chicken.

All right. But thank you for the help so far. I just wanted to find out what exactly was amiss with her, but personally I don't like processing, so I didn't look.

 

[LhickenChicken]

Sorry for your loss. Did you take any pictures of the organs during the necropsy? Did you open her crop or gizzard? Was any of the bowel black or bloody inside? Coccidiosis and enteritis are two illnesses that usually affect young chickens. Could she have eaten something like rat poison or something poisonous? Did she have any yellow ascites fluid come from her abdomen when it was opened? It would be hard to know exactly what was going on with your hen without a professional necropsy by your state vet or provincial lab pathologist.

Okay. After racking my brains for a day, I have some answers for you. I didn't take pictures.

I opened her gizzard. It was full of fresh food and grass. The bowel was black inside. I don't use rat poison at all since I don't get rats in Alberta. No yellow ascites fluid.

But, the oviduct was black-ish coloured. I don't know if any of what I said helps.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes, it takes a vet pathologist to figure out what kills them. There could have been something that caused an interruption in blood flow to the bowel or to the oviduct, which caused them to appear black. I will tag @casportpony and @azygous who may have seen something similar with one of their chickens. Those 2 people usually do home necropsies to look for a cause of death. If you keep updating for a bit longer, hopefully someone can help.

 

[azygous]

I come to the same conclusion as @Eggcessive regarding the blackened intestine. When something such as worms or coccidia parasites take up residence in the intestines, inflammation can occur. This in turn can encourage bacteria to colonize it. Then you get a condition call necrotic enteritis, often a terminal condition since enteritis can involve permanent damage if not treated early enough with an antibiotic.

Knowing this, next time you find you have a lethargic chicken with runny poop, starting treatment immediately for worms and coccidiosis is the first thing to do. Treatment for both can safely be done at the same time, and it does absolutely no harm if this is the wrong diagnosis. Moving on to an antibiotic as quickly as possible if there is no immediate improvement can save the life of a chicken even though you may have no idea what bacterial infection is responsible.

 

[LhickenChicken]

I come to the same conclusion as @Eggcessive regarding the blackened intestine. When something such as worms or coccidia parasites take up residence in the intestines, inflammation can occur. This in turn can encourage bacteria to colonize it. Then you get a condition call necrotic enteritis, often a terminal condition since enteritis can involve permanent damage if not treated early enough with an antibiotic.

Knowing this, next time you find you have a lethargic chicken with runny poop, starting treatment immediately for worms and coccidiosis is the first thing to do. Treatment for both can safely be done at the same time, and it does absolutely no harm if this is the wrong diagnosis. Moving on to an antibiotic as quickly as possible if there is no immediate improvement can save the life of a chicken even though you may have no idea what bacterial infection is responsible.

Thank you for the help. I will look out for this in the others.
Mabel