Conjunctivitis and not responding to antibiotic

[WVduckchick]

As I was reading along, I was thinking "send her out to free range with a good boy".... And of course you tried that too. I sure wish I had a brilliant idea for you, but no such luck.
But you have my hopes for some miracle.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for the moral support. It's greatly appreciated.

I am again thinking that Lucy is probably symptomatic of LL (lymphotic leucosis). When I eventually do a cursory necropsy, I'm expecting to find tumors. It's likely her immune system has taken a hit and that's why she suffered the eye infection and it blinded her instead of resolving. It's the only thing that makes sense since I know my flock carries the virus.

It's sad since she's still young. But it's the young ones that succumb to the virus. The older chickens wouldn't be older chickens unless they've developed resistance.

 

[micstrachan]

Carol, I am so sorry. I shed a tear for you and Lucy on my way home from work today. That may sound crazy, but, even though I don’t have the experience and wisdom you do, I can relate completely with going “alll in” trying to help a sick hen and ending in a sad outcome. I sincerely wish I could offer words of encouragement. But at this point I just have a virtual warm hug. I’m sorry.

 

[aart]

Have lost a few to Leukosis...it stinks.
Is her belly swollen at all?
Sorry for your troubles, hang in there.

 

[micstrachan]

Carol, how is Lucy today? I’ve been away from home for almost six hours (accompanied my son to his SAT exam an hour away to keep him company and took the dog to keep me company) and still won’t be home for a couple more hours, but you and Lucy have been on my mind.

 

[azygous]

Lucy has been euthanized. It's a relief to us both the suffering is over.

I did a rather crude (understatement) necropsy. I didn't come across any enlarged organs or tumors. Liver was normal, gizzard appeared healthy with a normal amount of grit. Kidneys normal. I'm not sure I ever ran across the heart. It may have been a casualty of my butchering techniques.

The abnormal features were an amazing amount of fat for such a young hen. The other was her infected eye. It had totally skinned over with opaque tissue. I compared it to the normal eye. I found a lesion in the upper outer corner, like a tumor. No blood apparent in it, just something that shouldn't have been there. The normal eye was perfectly clean around the border.

Here are the photos I took. Maybe someone will see something I didn't and let us know what it is.

 

[aart]

Bummer.

Not sure about the eye.

Have seen fat like that on birds(2-3yo) not laying.

Did intestines look 'normal'?
That's where I've seen leukosis tumors.
Did you open them to look for worms?

Is this the lungs above and maybe heart in blue circle?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss, but glad she is not suffering. Thanks for sharing the necropsy photos. I recently did a necropsy on a hen who had been suffering with a crop problem, probably related to another problem, but she had a lot of fat around organs although she had become emaciated. She never was a heavy hen.

 

[azygous]

After I posted, I remembered I left out a few comments. One was her crop. I fed her last evening and most of the cooked cereal and egg were still in her crop nearly 20 hours later.

Another was I cut open the intestines and they were clear and no worms.

No fat on the liver or abdominal fluid in spite of the heavy subcutaneous fat. She had laid a perfect egg the day I first discovered she was sick, and she had been laying regularly prior to that.

I'm pretty sure I ended up shredding the heart trying to get things cut up, not having much strength in my fingers anymore due to arthritis. But I didn't see any of those white LL tumor "warts" anywhere. Why just a localized problem with one eye would make her so sick is beyond my imagination.

 

[azygous]

@aart, I have no idea of the significance of those entrails. If that's a necrotic yolk, your guess is probably better than mine. I didn't encounter any enlarged organs. I was looking for tumors and something like what the necropsy revealed on my 11 month old cockerel that confirmed LL - a two pound liver.