Help Understanding Necropsy Results (Post 5)

[Deerling]

Last night one of our silkies (about 8 months old, not laying yet) was barely responsive when I went out to put them to bed. She was wet and lying in the rain, away from the other two. She had been fine earlier. She was holding her wings out from her body a bit, not panting, droopy head. Her vent was fine and crop felt normal, not full, not empty. I brought her inside, blow dried her off and put her in a box with a towel. She was barely breathing and died within an hour. When I went to take care of the body this morning and lifted her, trying to get a good look at her, a ton of liquid (looked like water with food particles in it) came out of her mouth. I thought that might be normal for a dead chicken and/or I was compressing her crop, but not sure? She had no symptoms, but the other two silkies have both been a bit weird for a while now. One walks in tight circles at times, but has no other symptoms, and the other occasionally sneezes. I will probably try and send the hen in for a necropsy but I was wondering if anyone here had any ideas. Their pen is completely enclosed. They have layer pellets, water and grit with scratch occasionally. They have pine bedding down which is changed frequently, although did get wet last week.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Silkies can be prone to wry neck--I don't know if that is what is happening with your pullet who walks in circles. Were your chickens vaccinated for Mareks disease? I have no idea if that is what your dead pullet might have had, but wry neck is one of the many symptoms of Mareks, but other things cause wry neck too--head injury, vitamin deficiency, Newcastles, and more. Getting a necropsy done by your state vet on a refrigerated (not frozen) body may tell you if there is something contagious going on. Your silkie could have just had some internal problem such as a bad heart or liver disease, and the wet and cold put her over the edge.

 

[Deerling]

Thank you so much for your reply. I am really hoping it isn't Mareks (obviously) but looking at information about Newcastle am wondering if it could be that - it seems like it would explain the symptoms in all of them. I am going to send her in and hope we can get some answers. It's always scary when something like this happens - we have four chicks in the house and have been careful about biosecurity, but it seems like some of these diseases are just so easy to spread. Scary.

 

[Eggcessive]

There are 3 types of Newcastles, and the most serious one (exotic Newcastles) is not found in the US fortunately. It may not be Mareks either, and that is why necropsies are helpful. Here is a link to help you to contact info for your state vet: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_dis_spec/poultry/states/washington.pdf
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._infections/newcastle_disease_in_poultry.html

 

[Deerling]

I got the results back today, this is what they said -

"The significant findings in this chicken include focal hepatic necrosis (cell death in the liver), scant gastrointestinal
content, and low grade coccidiosis. The hepatic necrosis suggests terminal bacterial septicemia, but no significant
bacterial pathogens were recovered from fresh tissue. Autolysis (post mortem decomposition; bird received and
necropsy performed 4 days after date of death reported on accession form) was prominent in this animal and
overgrowth of tissue by saprophytic, contaminating organisms may have hindered isolation efforts. Autolysis may
have also obscured more subtle tissue changes. Coccidia were present in the intestine, but there numbers were
not particularly high; however, this could have caused some degree of debilitation in this bird, perhaps predisposing
to infection. This also suggests the need to evaluate possible parasitism of flock-mates and treat as needed. The
lack of content in the gastrointestinal tract is likely due to reduced feed intake associated with poor body condition
and parasitism. Sciatic nerves showed no evidence of changes suggestive of Marek’s Disease.
In summary, I suspect that this bird died of bacterial septicemia, likely caused by poor body condition due to low
level parasitism and low feed intake"

We hesitated bringing her in - it cost more than we would have liked and the drive was 1.5 hours one way, so that hindered the investigation a bit. I did treat them for Cocci when I first got them but will be treating the remaining two again. I feel so bad for her

Like I should have noticed something was amiss. Poor little girl.

 

[enola]

Coccidia is a horrid disease. A lot of chicken owners don't notice the first symptoms.

 

[Deerling]

Coccidia is a horrid disease. A lot of chicken owners don't notice the first symptoms.

Thanks Will treating the remaining two with Corid be the correct action to take?

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Yes, I would treat them with corid.