Esophagus Pulled Out of Beak

[Wylie13]

I have never heard of this before either, and may be waaay off with this thought, but is there any possibility that it could basically be sort of like a prolapse of the esophagus when he went to start trying to crow?? I am hoping someone with more knowledge of the anatomy will chime in because I really have no idea. Maybe they can say if that is even a remote possibility. I am very sorry for your loss.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since the crop is attached to the esophagus, and that is attached to the proventriculis, and later the gizzard, followed by the intestines, it would have been good to take a picture, or save the body on ice packs for a necropsy. I am not sure if something like this might have happened with a vomiting episode, but it is strange.

 

[rebrascora]

I too have never heard of anything like this but the best explanation I can come up with is that he ate something with a string or length of stalk attached and then stood on or got it caught on something and it pulled everything out with it. Poor little guy!

I would very much doubt another chickens could be responsible for this sort of injury

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

Any chance that it looked similar to these? I don't think anyone ever got an "official diagnosis", but for these 2 threads, it was suspected the chicken swallowed a bee or possibly scorpion sting - just depends on where you live. A poisonous spider might do the same thing(?) Occasionally we run across, these, but I don't remember any chicken surviving, even with vet care.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-organ-hanging-from-the-mouth-tumor.1170982/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/horrible-swollen-thing-coming-out-of-my-hens-mouth.763473/

 

[WebsterChicken]

I got a call from the vet a few minutes ago. He discovered the problem. He said that it was a infected salivary gland. He said it was the worst he had ever seen. The tissue had swollen so much that it filled his entire beak. He said it was probably just a fluke, but he did say that it is possible it could have been the result of a vitamin A deficiency. I'll have to look at what I have in my chicken kit so I can add some appropriate vitamins to their water just in case.

 

[WebsterChicken]

I got a call from the vet a few minutes ago. He discovered the problem. He said that it was a infected salivary gland. He said it was the worst he had ever seen. The tissue had swollen so much that it filled his entire beak. He said it was probably just a fluke, but he did say that it is possible it could have been the result of a vitamin A deficiency. I'll have to look at what I have in my chicken kit so I can add some appropriate vitamins to their water just in case.

I would add, that this happened very quickly. He looked fine on Thursday when I went to collect eggs, and on Friday the tissue had swollen to absurd proportions.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for the update.
What do you feed your flock?

 

[WebsterChicken]

It actually looked quite a bit like those pictures. I would only add that my rooster looked worse. The tumor/tongue--whatever it was--was even bigger. My rooster couldn't even pick his head up all the way. If anybody else has this issue, I guess you can say it's a salivary gland infection or possibly a tumor. From looking at the other posts you referenced, it would seem that the condition is fatal. My rooster did not survive, and those chickens didn't either.

 

[WebsterChicken]

Thanks for the update.
What do you feed your flock?

They’ve been eating tractor supply company layer pellets. I supplement with veggies that are past their prime and the scraps from cooking dinner.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I got a call from the vet a few minutes ago. He discovered the problem. He said that it was a infected salivary gland. He said it was the worst he had ever seen. The tissue had swollen so much that it filled his entire beak. He said it was probably just a fluke, but he did say that it is possible it could have been the result of a vitamin A deficiency. I'll have to look at what I have in my chicken kit so I can add some appropriate vitamins to their water just in case.

It actually looked quite a bit like those pictures. I would only add that my rooster looked worse. The tumor/tongue--whatever it was--was even bigger. My rooster couldn't even pick his head up all the way. If anybody else has this issue, I guess you can say it's a salivary gland infection or possibly a tumor. From looking at the other posts you referenced, it would seem that the condition is fatal. My rooster did not survive, and those chickens didn't either.

Very interesting! Thank you for letting us know what the vet said. I had never thought of salivary gland being infected. Did he happen to explain how Vitamin A deficiency played a part in causing infection?