Hen in pain? Panting, won't move

[SunriseChickers]

Congratulation for doing the necropsy and getting some answers. Did you see an enormous amount of fat inside the hen, or was the liver tannish?

No, there wasn't very much fat inside her. I'm not sure how to identify the different organs, but what I thought was her liver, based on consistency, was normal and red. The organ I THINK might be her lungs were weird though. The top half had a similar consistency to the liver almost, while the bottom half was mushy and crumbly kinda? Also near her spine, but still inside the organ cavity, little balls of various sizes, but all tiny. The biggest ones were white and pink, the smallest mostly black. The small ones were hard and grainy. Hopefully someone with a trained eye can tell what's going on once I post the pictures, though it might take me a while to get them up. My mother took over 400 photos of the procedure! Lots to look through for the best pictures.
To top my day off, we had chicken for dinner, which I could not finish. Oh well.

 

[NatJ]

The organ I THINK might be her lungs were weird though. The top half had a similar consistency to the liver almost, while the bottom half was mushy and crumbly kinda?

The lungs are on each side of the backbone, squished in among the ribs, in the front half of the body. When people butcher chickens for the first time, the lungs are pretty easy to miss, because of how far in they are. Fresh healthy lungs are pink, and kind of squishy or spongy feeling. The color and texture can change depending on how long the chicken is dead before you look.

Also near her spine, but still inside the organ cavity, little balls of various sizes, but all tiny. The biggest ones were white and pink, the smallest mostly black. The small ones were hard and grainy.

It's common to find little balls that are egg yolks, but the ones I've seen are usually white to yellow in color, not black. They've each got a fairly sturdy membrane, so I suppose really small ones could feel somewhat hard and grainy, although I don't remember specifically feeling them to check. I don't know whether you were seeing egg yolks with a problem, or something else that I'm not recognizing from the description.

Hopefully someone with a trained eye can tell what's going on once I post the pictures, though it might take me a while to get them up. My mother took over 400 photos of the procedure! Lots to look through for the best pictures.

Wow, that's a lot of photos!

 

[SunriseChickers]

Here are the lash eggs I pulled out of her, as well as the grainy things I found. The zoomed out with my scalpel is roughly where the grainy things are.

 

[NatJ]

Here are the lash eggs I pulled out of her, as well as the grainy things I found. The zoomed out with my scalpel is roughly where the grainy things are.

It looks like the grainy things were in the right place to be egg yolks, but they don't look quite right to me-- maybe egg yolks with something wrong? I can't say what looks wrong, just that it doesn't look "right."

The lash eggs certainly show that something was wrong. That one is really enormous! I do not think any kind of medical treatment could have helped this hen, with all of those inside her.

 

[SunriseChickers]

It looks like the grainy things were in the right place to be egg yolks, but they don't look quite right to me-- maybe egg yolks with something wrong? I can't say what looks wrong, just that it doesn't look "right."

The lash eggs certainly show that something was wrong. That one is really enormous! I do not think any kind of medical treatment could have helped this hen, with all of those inside her.

I do have comfort knowing I couldn't have done anything. I did know she'd given me a lash eggs or two, but I'd also gotten a few eggs from her in the months after. Could have culled her and spared her the pain if I knew it would end like this, but I'm glad to have had her while I did.