Gapeworm was not found in necropsy, what could it be?

[Raganr]

Warning, explicit pictures!
I had a chicken recently die of suffocation as she spent a week gaping/gasping for breath. I held a nebulize for oxygen therapy up to to for many treatments which is why she probably lasted so long. She started wheezing but quickly moved to gasping and would raise her head up to take an intake of breath. I put her in the chicken hospital (my bathroom) and she settled in her nest and just working on breathing. I thought she'd pass away day two and day three during the night but she made it through with the heavy intake of breath. No other cold symptoms like watery eyes or sneezing or congestion. Her temperature seemed normal. I thought for sure gapeworm and started treating her day one. I treated her each day until she passed, so seven days. On day three and four she seems better so I let her go outside and she worked at being a normal chicken eating dirt items, greens and water but I brought her back in after just a couple of hours as her wheezing got worse. Day 5 and 6 she didn't come out as her breathing was very labored. I was putting liquefied food and medicine down her throat each day and keeping up her oxygen treatments. She passed away on day 7 during the night.
I have never done a necropsy before but I tired to see if I could see an obstruction of her airway and her esophagus seemed clear all the way down to her lungs. I could only see that one side of her liver was sort of mushy and maybe one lung looked slightly different from the other but I didn't open the lungs up. There were no signs of gapeworm anywhere. I couldn't believe that she kept gasping/gaping even through all her Safe Guard for goats treatment for seven days! I uploaded pictures that I could share if anyone could possibly help me identify what might have killed her. The green bulbous thing was attached to the messy liver. Any ideas?
Thank you.

 

[dawg53]

Just for your information, gapeworm are rare in chickens. Since you did a necropsy, did you vertically slice open the trachea? That's where you would find the small red "Y" shaped gapeworms.
Other than that, my first thoughts were either some type of mold or fungal infection or air sac mites. I was leaning toward air sac mites, however the green blob may have something to do with her symptoms and death, but I'm not sure.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[theoldchick]

Respiratory infections will mimic gapeworm infestation. Here are a few links: https://www.evolutionfarmvets.co.uk/respiratory-disease-chickens https://extension.psu.edu/respiratory-diseases-of-small-poultry-flocks

 

[Eggcessive]

The green thing is most likely the gallbladder. Sorry for your loss. I agree with Dawg53 that in order to see gapeworms, you would need to look inside the trachea. A vet could also possibly see gapeworm eggs in a sample of droppings under a microscope. Respiratory diseases are much more common than gapeworms. They can be from viruses, bacteria, or mold fungus. They can spread to the air sacs all over the body and create infection. Your state vet would be able to do a necropsy with histology to look for most common diseases. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Raganr]

Just for your information, gapeworm are rare in chickens. Since you did a necropsy, did you vertically slice open the trachea? That's where you would find the small red "Y" shaped gapeworms.
Other than that, my first thoughts were either some type of mold or fungal infection or air sac mites. I was leaning toward air sac mites, however the green blob may have something to do with her symptoms and death, but I'm not sure.
Sorry for your loss.

Yes I did open up her trachea and esophagus all the way and found no gapeworms. I looked at a lot of pictures of what to look for so I don't think I missed any which is not surprising since she was on Safe Guard for seven days. I will look into air sac mites, thank you.

 

[Raganr]

The green thing is most likely the gallbladder. Sorry for your loss. I agree with Dawg53 that in order to see gapeworms, you would need to look inside the trachea. A vet could also possibly see gapeworm eggs in a sample of droppings under a microscope. Respiratory diseases are much more common than gapeworms. They can be from viruses, bacteria, or mold fungus. They can spread to the air sacs all over the body and create infection. Your state vet would be able to do a necropsy with histology to look for most common diseases. Sorry for your loss.

Thank you for your reply. I did open up the trachea as well. I guess her symptoms of gasping for air and occasionally trying to clear her throat could come from a respiratory disease.

 

[dawg53]

If it were a respiratory disease, there would most likely be other symptoms. Not to mention that respiratory diseases are easily spread to other birds in a flock.
If you see other birds in your flock showing similar symptoms, let us know.

 

[Raganr]

Thank you for your reply. I did open up the trachea as well. I guess her symptoms of gasping for air and occasionally trying to clear her throat could come from a respiratory disease.

If it were a respiratory disease, there would most likely be other symptoms. Not to mention that respiratory diseases are easily spread to other birds in a flock.
If you see other birds in your flock showing similar symptoms, let us know.

I did not notice any other symptoms and none of her best friends have any symptoms. I have treated them all for gapeworms anyway. Maybe she had gapeworms that caused further damage that cause her breathing problems?

 

[topochico225]

If the liver felt greasy/friable, then it might have been Fatty Liver syndrome. Was she overweight, or did you find a lot of fat inside her?

 

[Raganr]

If the liver felt greasy/friable, then it might have been Fatty Liver syndrome. Was she overweight, or did you find a lot of fat inside her?

She was not overweight, a rather light 3.5 lbs. I did find some fat in and around her insides but not too much. Would that have the same symptoms?