Diarrhea-1 dead. one with cyanosis

[NorthwoodsChick]

One of my top hens was found dead today. She slept in a floor nest Thursday into Friday. After work yesterday eve she was still there. I thought she was broody but she didn’t make a fuss when I picked her up- unusual. She was wet underneath, then had sudden watery mucoid diarrhea with whites but no odor twice in lrg amounts. no blood. She was panting. No signs of being egg bound. Last egg 4-5 days ago. she drank water for me and ate mash last night. She had highly audible bowel sounds. I cleaned her up and put her in an isolated area in a nest box. She was lethargic this morning and died by noon. This morning two other hens had soft shelled eggs and one of them had diarrhea on the roost—>that hen also gets a cyanotic comb and pants when laying down to dust bathe for about 2 weeks. She free ranges and has no issues with cyanosis when roaming. Eats and drinks normally. She’s a very big girl-10 lbs but not overweight for breed. Thoughts?

I sanitized all waterers and am treating the whole flock with Corid. I have presumed this to be coccidiosis- certainly something GI. I’ve ruled out respiratory virus- I don’t see parasites (worms, mites, lice). No chem exposure.
I gave calcium with D tabs to the soft shell layers. oyster shell is always available but I changed it out for new for the Hell of it.
Coop bedding nesting changed- deep dry litter method . The run is dry and I pick up poop daily. Am I missing some mystery illness or disease?? I’m pretty attached to my flock.
Hens are 1.5 yrs old usually healthy. free range with Prince 18% all flock, oyster shell on side. rare treats except what they forage. it is wild raspberry season. They did in my compost daily and have done so for a year.

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for your loss. Do you feel up to doing a necropsy?

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Sorry for your loss. Do you feel up to doing a necropsy?

I hated to do it but I did a detailed necropsy—I have to know for the sake of the rest of my flock. I never tried to be more precise than I did with her, out of respect. Afterward I folded her wings across her chest and she looked like I never did a thing
Here’s what I found..it’s detailed. First, one odd thing I noticed is the vent was prolapsed. Her vent last night was normal and I didn’t check this morning. Vent was protruding when I did the necropsy—does that commonly occur after dead if its been a few hours? Belly not swollen- pushing on belly caused same clear diarrhea content.
Head, neck, keel normal. muscles unremarkable. Esophagus nml, crop mostly empty- no odor. Liver was large and fatty- no obvious tumors. Lots of abd fat but no yellow fat surrounding organs. The posterior peritoneal space had a small amt of semitransparent fluid with what looked like small yellow-white fat globules—not sure what that is but could be significant. No strong odor of decay or infection but they all smell bad on the inside anyway but this was nothing unusual. There was no shelled egg. There were 4-5 intact egg yokes, one large and the rest progressively smaller all with intact vessels on the surface. Heart, lungs, inside layer of trachea, kidneys normal. Intestines empty and normal appearing except one 2 inch segment of small intestine looked really dark and larger than expected —maybe this is where cecum empties?? it didn’t look ruptured nor was it hard. maybe obstruction?
I’m still leaning toward coccidiosis bc of the sudden onset and rapid death. If she had egg yoke peritonitis would I see broken yoke, or could that degrade in a day to explain the semi- transparent fluid mixed with the small globules? Would that take her so quickly without her looking off??she was last very normal and feisty as usual Wednesday night. Thurs afternoon is when I saw she was off, then diahhea then dead.

 

[Kiki]

Fatty liver kills quick and fast. Will you send your next death to the state lab to get a professional necropsy?