Dead chick autopsy

[Ray987]

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Hello I have a chick that was perfectly fine yesterday when it went to sleep, this morning I let them out and they all seemed pretty fine and normal, not one if them didn't eat and drink, shortly after they finished eating I spotted a chick with wings down and looking pretty weak, instantly Isolated the chick to get a sample of the droppings, gave him Vitamins, I checked 30 minutes later for dropping and found a small amount with tiny seeds in it which is odd, I thought the chick maybe having some digestive issues so I gave it a couple of drops of olive oil, couple of hours later chick died, I got myself to do autopsy and here's the pics of it, sorry it's my first time and it was rather clumsy and messy I think everything was Normal except this thing inside the red circle, I cut it open in half and it seems like it's congested with these tiny seeds the chick pooped, I don't know what could that be probably something chick ate while free ranging, everything else looked pretty normal, Liver normal, crop normal no sign of any damage to the crop, heart, Intestines normal also, any idea why the chick died? Please and thanks, I want to protect my flock if it's something contagious

 

[Ray987]

Update: Just noticed another chick with the same issue right after eating it wings down and probably gonna die

Forgot to mention
Age 45 days
Feed Chick starter with tiny bread crumbs
Breed: Baladi/cross breed

Starting to think it's the bread crumbs
Anything i can do to save the other chicks?

 

[Ray987]

There's 2 chicks with the same condition now : ( I hope someone knows what the issue so I can help them out

 

[coach723]

How old are the chicks? Do you know where they are getting the seeds? Does your feed contain that? If the feed contains all those whole seeds, I would switch to a pellet or crumble that doesn't have the whole seeds/grains, until they are older. I honestly don't like those kinds of feeds anyway, they pick and choose what they like and leave the rest often times. It appears to be the gizzard where the mass is located, and that would be normal to see full of food during digestion. What I don't see is any grit, which you should see mixed in with the feed, maybe I'm just not seeing it. Do they have access to grit? Without grit the gizzard cannot grind and digest the seeds or fiberous material, they could be getting impacted gizzards. Grit is very necessary, it should be available all the time in a separate feeder or dish, they will take what they need. There is 'chick grit', sized smaller for chicks, and poultry grit, for when they are bigger. Small chicks could choke on the full sized poultry grit. If they have not had access, they could gorge trying to fix the problem, so I would start with the chick sized.
Was there food in the intestines? If things are not passing through the gizzard then the intestines may be empty or nearly so. I don't think the bread is the reason, but I would stop feeding that anyway, it's carbs and could make them fat long term, and it's not really nutritious for them.

 

[Ray987]

How old are the chicks? Do you know where they are getting the seeds? Does your feed contain that? If the feed contains all those whole seeds, I would switch to a pellet or crumble that doesn't have the whole seeds/grains, until they are older. I honestly don't like those kinds of feeds anyway, they pick and choose what they like and leave the rest often times. It appears to be the gizzard where the mass is located, and that would be normal to see full of food during digestion. What I don't see is any grit, which you should see mixed in with the feed, maybe I'm just not seeing it. Do they have access to grit? Without grit the gizzard cannot grind and digest the seeds or fiberous material, they could be getting impacted gizzards. Grit is very necessary, it should be available all the time in a separate feeder or dish, they will take what they need. There is 'chick grit', sized smaller for chicks, and poultry grit, for when they are bigger. Small chicks could choke on the full sized poultry grit. If they have not had access, they could gorge trying to fix the problem, so I would start with the chick sized.
Was there food in the intestines? If things are not passing through the gizzard then the intestines may be empty or nearly so. I don't think the bread is the reason, but I would stop feeding that anyway, it's carbs and could make them fat long term, and it's not really nutritious for them.

The feed I'm using doesn't contain that I can't figure what those seeds are they probably ate it while free ranging and since they're free ranging I assume they have all the grit they need, they're 45 days old and 2 more chicks just got the same issue wings down right after eating is there something i could do to help them pass it through?

And yes the crops is full of feed (no seeds of this kind) i see chick starter, grass is all

I think the Intestines were empty

 

[Ray987]

Should i give them Castor oil or how can i help? They're about to die please help

 

[coach723]

You really should provide grit anyway. Many environments do not have enough or the right size/composition to properly support their digestion. In the wild they can travel far and wide to find what they need. In our flocks they are generally restricted to a small area (even if they free range) which may not have what they need. The grit is crushed granite, it's not very expensive, and a bag may last a long time. Cheap insurance. Grass can be a problem too, and is a very common reason for impacted crops or gizzards. They have a very hard time digesting all that fiber and it just blocks them up. Just leaving a lot of clippings on the ground after mowing can sometimes do it. They may be finding something they think is tasty and gorging on it. I would consider confining them if possible and doing a good search of the area they range in to see what you find. Plants can vary season to season. They are also very young, and do not always know what to eat or not. Even older birds eat stupid things. There is a thread on here where someone lost chicks that ate venomous caterpillars. Stuff happens. You can try an epsom salt flush, coconut oil etc. to get stuff moving, may or may not work. As they are so small the epsom salt flush would be pretty hard on them, it's very dehydrating, you are basically giving them diarrhea to try to move it through. Coconut oil would be safer, and they usually like it.
Other thought is, how fresh is your feed? Any mold or spoilage can kill quickly. If your feed is in the original bag, go out and empty it into another container and look at every bit of it. Any odor, clumping, color change, etc. Don't feed it. Sometimes a bag will spoil on the bottom and the top will still look OK. It's not.

 

[Ray987]

Had another chick die this morning and got 3-4 more looking in a bad shape, did another autopsy not as messy as the previous one here's the pictures
I believe the gizzard is clogged by these whole grains? which I guess they were eating while free ranging (we just harvested wheat recently and there are leftovers on the ground all over the farm)

Also is the gizzard supposed to be black like that with all that black stuff? Isn't is supposed to be yellowish?

I let them out this morning and horrified to even feed them anything i gave them warm water with honey hopefully it helps smoothen things up

Please let me know what do you think, is this the cause of them dying?
All their organs seems perfectly fine to me but I'm not an expert this is my first time so if you see any other issues with their organs please let me know, even if I can't save these poor chicks I would like to know the reason they died to protect my other ones and the ones I will be hatching in the future

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your losses. I agree that I would get some small granite chick grit online or at a feed store. Change to adult grit after 11 weeks. Also, just in case of possible coccidiosis, I would start some Corid in their water for 5-7 days. The dark intestines could be blood or decay from a blocked gizzard. Also the liver in the one pic looks tan instead of red, so liver involvement is also happening. Without a professional necropsy done through your state vets which can be affordable on backyard chicks and done on a couple of bodies kept cold, I can only guess.

 

[coach723]

I agree that the liver does not look healthy. It should be much redder. Could be toxins, also the black could be from the spoiling/fermenting of the food not passing through and just sitting in there, or also could be toxins causing inflammation and necrosis. Definitely get them some grit, and I still think you should confine/isolate them in an area where they cannot continue to eat whatever they are finding. It's also possible that those wheat grains sitting on the ground in the open environment have begun to break down and spoil (mycotoxins are common with grains or endotoxins which could be present if there is fecal matter on the ground) which could easily be fatal to such small chicks. I'm just throwing possible things out, without testing we are only able to guess. But something is definitely going on since so many are sick or dying. Treating with Corid is very safe and will do no harm, and would probably be wise just to make sure since that is also deadly (coccidiosis).