Help with necropsy photos

[Kristen0729]

My silver Wyandotte Betty went from hopping on the fence and being a pretty fun girl to standing alone and lethargic. I isolated her and tried my best to treat the loose stool, dosed her with Corid and started with vitamin E, B. Over the next few days I tried multiple things along with syringe fluids and feeding Vet RX. Only worsened, just to take one step and lay back down. Made the decision to euthanize yesterday when she wasn’t moving at all and today my friend helped to try and figure this out. I did take a couple photos but we were just really trying to see if anything stood out so they’re not great and I feel like I failed her. She was 11 months and has never laid an egg and I saw nothing laid internally. Could use some insight, as now I’m worried about the rest of the flock. Thanks, been a rough week.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I'm sorry for the loss of this hen and also that noone replied to you yet.
I have no experience with necropsy but let me ask around and see if someone can help..
@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My silver Wyandotte Betty went from hopping on the fence and being a pretty fun girl to standing alone and lethargic. I isolated her and tried my best to treat the loose stool, dosed her with Corid and started with vitamin E, B. Over the next few days I tried multiple things along with syringe fluids and feeding Vet RX. Only worsened, just to take one step and lay back down. Made the decision to euthanize yesterday when she wasn’t moving at all and today my friend helped to try and figure this out. I did take a couple photos but we were just really trying to see if anything stood out so they’re not great and I feel like I failed her. She was 11 months and has never laid an egg and I saw nothing laid internally. Could use some insight, as now I’m worried about the rest of the flock. Thanks, been a rough week.

I'm sorry to hear about Betty.

Did you happen to take any photos of the organs and reproductive system?

Did you see a lot of yellow fat in the abdomen or was there fluid?

I don't see anything that stands out. Hopefully the others will chime in.

If she never laid an egg in her lifetime, perhaps she was suffering from a reproductive problem, but that's just a guess.

 

[Kristen0729]

I'm sorry for the loss of this hen and also that noone replied to you yet.
I have no experience with necropsy but let me ask around and see if someone can help..
@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive

Thank you- I understand people are busy. No worries. Have a good day

 

[Kristen0729]

I'm sorry to hear about Betty.

Did you happen to take any photos of the organs and reproductive system?

Did you see a lot of yellow fat in the abdomen or was there fluid?

I don't see anything that stands out. Hopefully the others will chime in.

If she never laid an egg in her lifetime, perhaps she was suffering from a reproductive problem, but that's just a guess.

Thank you, This was super hard for me and I was just trying to remember things to look for. (My friend actually did all the cutting because I just couldn’t yet. Gotta get over that.) I saw nothing fatty, no weird fluids, nothing that resembles an egg/eggs, internal laying or bound. I was looking for tumors but I really didn’t have a clue so those are the only pics I got. In hindsight I know I need to be much more thorough. I was thinking something reproductive or vitamin deficiency. A couple months ago I got a hyped up non gmo feed from a local mill. The girls didn’t love it so I continued using it but mixed with their original layer pellets. I’m wondering if that threw them off as now I have Blanche in my kitchen with crop issues. (On another thread) Trying so hard and I hate to fail them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry I did not comment earlier since I didn’t see anything obvious. Did you see any yellow fluid come out when you opened the abdominal wall? Here is a good video to look at on a chicken necropsy, although it is way too complicated, and you only need to look at the primary organs—liver, intestines, oviduct, gizzard and crop, although you can look at more things, such as the kidneys, heart, etc:

 

[Kristen0729]

Sorry I did not comment earlier since I didn’t see anything obvious. Did you see any yellow fluid come out when you opened the abdominal wall? Here is a good video to look at on a chicken necropsy, although it is way too complicated, and you only need to look at the primary organs—liver, intestines, oviduct, gizzard and crop, although you can look at more things, such as the kidneys, heart, etc:

Thank you, hoping I don’t have to do another one soon but thank you for the reference!

 

[Eggcessive]

With chickens eventually you will lose one now and then. I have had some live 10 years, while others have died after a couple of years or more. The 10 year olds were killed by a bobcat in the middle of the day, so might have lived another couple of years. I usually did a necropsy on most of my hens to learn what might have killed them. It wasn’t fun, but I learned a lot.

 

[Kristen0729]

With chickens eventually you will lose one now and then. I have had some live 10 years, while others have died after a couple of years or more. The 10 year olds were killed by a bobcat in the middle of the day, so might have lived another couple of years. I usually did a necropsy on most of my hens to learn what might have killed them. It wasn’t fun, but I learned a lot

 

[Kristen0729]

Yes I’m at the point where I NEED to know what happened so I can stay on top of things or tweak stuff if need be. I got my first three girls in 2020 so I’ve lost a few… hawks and EYP. Thanks for the support. Trying to get one back on track and it’s blowing my mind. I was ready (not ready, but resolved)to do the crop surgery and now it’s much smaller but she seems more lethargic and uninterested in anything so I’m wondering if it’s a blockage further down the trail.