Found Dead Hen - *Very* Graphic Necropsy Photos

[casportpony]

Here's the latest, she is my second one in a month to die from ovarian cancer. No sign of illness, just dead under the tree she roosted in.

 

[casportpony]

stupid question but could the increase in tumors and cancer in ones flock be caused by hybrids or gmo's? I know that our modified corn doesn't have all the nutrients that some older varieties had, but is this a serious issue we should be watching for?

Increase? I think it's been a common cause of death in older hens for a very long time.

 

[Zrcalo]

"stupid question but could the increase in tumors and cancer in ones flock be caused by hybrids or gmo's? I know that our modified corn doesn't have all the nutrients that some older varieties had, but is this a serious issue we should be watching for?"


The corn we have been growing from the late 1700's and on is highly genetically modified. They just modified it the old fashioned way. 100% of all corn grown from 1800 and onward is all hybrid. The original corn the native americans introduced to the settlers looked nothing like what we use today. Not even the heritage varieties. The corn that is used to make scratch comes from many MANY different varieties. The big GMO's that are in today's corn are the exact same ones that are found all across the board. Soybeans, wheat, rice, etc. The number one gene is "roundup ready" which allows growers to spray the herbicide on the fields without killing their crops.

If anything, it's the pesticides, chemicals, and toxins from other things that are 100% confirmed to cause cancer. Most are plastics and/or plastic byproducts. That water bottle that you drink out of? More deadly than GMO's.

:/ I've studied as a biotechnician, and plastics are honestly more scary than radiation. Because.. radiation you can clean up... chemicals from plastics (especially PCB's) you cannot.

If anything, GMO's are more responsible to allergies as these are proteins that our bodies have not had to deal with ever. US and the chickens.

(I've honestly switched to using all glass or ceramic for all my water. unfortunately, no matter where we get water, it is stored in plastic before we get it.)

 

[geoh]

One of our chickens got badly hurt by a fox. This was the most healthy individual in our very small flock but to my surprise her abdomen was full of some adherences.

I'm including an image so that you can help me identify what that is. I know it's not pleasant to look at but it's helpful.

Kind regards.

 

[geoh]

Welcome to BYC and so sorry for your loss. That is some type of cancer.

Thank you for the quick reply. I was suspecting the same.

 

[loveourbirds]

Increase? I think it's been a common cause of death in older hens for a very long time.

older yes, but im seeing and hearing people talk about it a lot more in 1-2 year old hens. mostly in comets from my experience. I know a comet hybrid is bred for exclusively for egg production. for this reason I can see how tumors and such could have a higher occurance. but I also see it in show and hatchery mostly dual purpose birds.
im not a vet and not claiming to be, just seems to be happening to younger and more birds.
a few years ago when I first started with chickens, we had several start losing weight, eating more, decrease in egg production and this was on hens in their pullet year. we wormed them, offered grit free choice and mixed a little in their feed. eventually 3 died in one week so we had one sent off. at that time we were feeding a layer mash made by a local mill, that mill had accidently? gotten some type of corn that was developed for ethanol production and not for feed purposes. I don't know the ratio they used but that corn was the main basis of our feed, and had no nutrition.
after all of that we did switch to a commercial layer crumble and later started mixing feed grade corn, sunflower and some other items. we raise hundreds of birds a year with little or no cancer/tumor issues. our biggest problem now is we (and by we I mean my wife) noticed the chickens really liked the sunflower so she mixed more in the feed and it made them fat. we have lost a couple to egg binding.

this argument could go either way, I just was curious if anyone else was thinking the same way I was.

 

[redrstr29]

WAITTTTT I know this thread is old!! But I just culled 3 hens with this exact same thing!!!!!!! thats nuts I got them from auction.... And they were Comets not red crosses

 

[circlemfarmny]

Is just had a healthy hen pass away I necrospy her & found similar finding

 

[casportpony]

@circlemfarmny , welcome to BYC and sorry for your loss. thanks so much for posting your pictures, they are very educational.

 

[Kiki]

View attachment 1739697 View attachment 1739696 View attachment 1739696 View attachment 1739697 Is just had a healthy hen pass away I necrospy her & found similar finding

Wow! Thanks for sharing.