Chicken necropsy (graphic images) - liver failure / internal bleeding - what is the cause?

[coach723]

I agree, the more space you can feasibly give them the better. What works for one group might not work for another, breed, temperament, personalities, roo's, etc. can all change the dymamic. I have 40 birds currently and my fenced space for them is a little over 100 x 100 ft. Luckily I have the space to do that. Since I have multiple roos this gives everyone space, there is no fighting, and the girls have plenty of room to get away. Some of my roo's will roost right next to each other at night.

 

[Perris]

Hello, I have circled what I believe is the heart (if that is in the right position of the heart?). I wasn't able to see the kidneys

I cannot see them either, but I never have been good at finding chicken kidneys.

You might find this useful for future reference

 

[newbiechickenmamma11]

10sqm is 103sqft, give or take. That's 10 birds, max, using the 10sq ft/bird rule. I think that's not enough sq ft/bd personally - but 10sq ft / bd is the thumb rule minimum. I'm getting ready to set up a new 30 x 40 (foot) fenced area to offer some protection to 25 birds. That's almost 50sq ft/bd and I feel badly about containing them - just not as badly as I feel about possums nabbing them as they sleep. So I'm giving them options.

The best rule is to give them as much room as you reasonably can.

The max I'd personally be comfortable keeping in there is 6-8 chickens. If I wasn't able to free range them safely every day, do you think 10sqm for their enclosed run is okay space for exercise for (now) 6 birds? I will of course try to free range them as much as possible but I can only do it while home due to predators.

 

[newbiechickenmamma11]

Hi all! I so appreciate your replies. I have set up an extra free range area for them too when I am working from home so they have more room, and I will keep an eye out on the rest of the chickens and hope or the best.

I might try weighing a couple of the bigger chickens to learn a bit more and keep track.

I do find it interesting that this chicken was on the bottom of the pecking order, so I didn’t think she ate a lot. Perhaps a bit of genetic predisposition played a part in her death?

Also two other questions:

• I feel a bit disappointed that the avian vet only gave me two phrases: ‘liver failure/issue/disease’ and ‘lots of internal bleeding’. I tried to ask the vet nurse whether she may have had fatty liver but the necropsy notes didn’t say more, and said it looks like something I couldn’t have prevented. Surely based on what we have concluded here (that it’s highly likely she had FLHS, the vet would have been able to also tell me that?

• If say I had another chicken I was concerned was at risk of FLHS, is this something the vet would be able to assess if I brought that chicken in to check? Eg through some sort of scan or something?

Thank you

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Hi all! I so appreciate your replies. I have set up an extra free range area for them too when I am working from home so they have more room, and I will keep an eye out on the rest of the chickens and hope or the best.

I might try weighing a couple of the bigger chickens to learn a bit more and keep track.

I do find it interesting that this chicken was on the bottom of the pecking order, so I didn’t think she ate a lot. Perhaps a bit of genetic predisposition played a part in her death?

Also two other questions:

• I feel a bit disappointed that the avian vet only gave me two phrases: ‘liver failure/issue/disease’ and ‘lots of internal bleeding’. I tried to ask the vet nurse whether she may have had fatty liver but the necropsy notes didn’t say more, and said it looks like something I couldn’t have prevented. Surely based on what we have concluded here (that it’s highly likely she had FLHS, the vet would have been able to also tell me that?

• If say I had another chicken I was concerned was at risk of FLHS, is this something the vet would be able to assess if I brought that chicken in to check? Eg through some sort of scan or something?

Thank you

I'm going to try and remember to come back to this and provide some depth to my answers, but woke up late, and am about an hour behind where I should be at this moment.

The (very) short answer is the FLHS is a syndrome, a collection of symptoms, with a complicated (and somewhat disputed) set of causes. There is no simple test for it, gender, and genetics both play a factor, and feed is often the most significant component (though not just fat/carb content) in the pathology.

Your avian vet got you in the right area - liver failure w/ internal bleeding. They just needed to make a few additional observations to slap a descriptive name on it - a name which tells you little more than that a certain collection of symptoms were noted.

and no, there is no simple test for it - though if one bird has died from it, its a reasonable assumption that others birds, raised under the same conditions, likely have similar symptoms. Taking action to address them is also reasonable.