Dead chicken on coop floor.

[hrayb]

I applaud your willingness to open up your dead chicken to search for clues to her death. Since you describe the abdominal fluid as looking like broken egg yolk, that would be more consistent with internal laying than ascites. Ascites fluid is clear usually, and brown when bacteria is present in it.

What causes internal laying? It's not known for sure. Stress or injury can cause the ovum to reverse course in the oviduct and bounce out of the top and into the abdominal cavity. This can happen at any stage of the egg building process. I've found what you've just found as well as whole eggs in the cavity. Death is almost always the consequence.

Thank you, it was hard, I hate that we lost her but I wanted to make sure my others weren’t at risk. I’m glad to hear they most likely are safe. won’t be the same without miss fluff butt.