Hen sudden death, should I necroscopy?

[7 chicken army]

I went out to my coop this afternoon to check on my hens and my EE was dead under the (low) roost on her stomach. I didn't look in on them yesterday because we have a very sick dog that we're going back and forth to the vet and the store for, it's been very stressful. It appears she hadn't laid an egg for a couple days (and she didn't lay every day anyway). Her crop was partially full. My question is, since she's already been dead for a day should I still do a nec to see if I can tell what killed her? It's been cool out temp-wise, but she does have rigor. There are no indications of trauma on her outside, the coop is still intact everywhere, nothing bigger than 1/4 inch could get in. Their food and water is fine. She was about 4. Also I don't feel a stuck egg but I might have to look inside to make sure. What do you all think, should I go ahead even though she's been dead so long?

 

[7 chicken army]

OK so I got impatient waiting for an answer and went ahead and did it. I only noticed that there was a large what looked to be blood clot in the body cavity, but I couldn't tell where it had come from. There was no shelled egg in the oviduct, there were several yolks in various stages but no shells. There were some small stones in the liver. Heart looked the right size, nothing obvious. Liver also was a normal size. Regular body fat and meat (for a laying hen) on the breast. Weird.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would go ahead and open her up. Look inside the crop and the gizzard for blockage or rotten stuff. When you first open the abdomen, note if any amber fluid comes out. Look at her liver color, look for lash eggs inside the belly, for a stuck egg in her cloaca, check the intestines, sand anything else that looks off. Take pictures if you want some opinions. I usually just look for a few things, and mine are not very in depth. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you had seen a lot of fat and a tan liver, I would have guessed fatty liver disease. But there could have been a hemmorhage from something else. Maybe others will chime in with more help. Here is a good link on performing a necropsy:

http://web.uconn.edu/poultry/poultrypages/Poultry necropsy manual 02008.pdf

 

[7 chicken army]

OK here's a general view from when I first opened her (please excuse the terrible job I did, it was outside and cold and raining and I didn't have poultry shears). The dark thing with the yellow small object on it is the liver I believe with one of the liver stones I dug out of it.

 

[7 chicken army]

One showing the crop partially cut open and the rest of the cavity, you can see the dark blood clot or whatever it is around the organs in the back.

 

[Eggcessive]

Others including @casportpony are probably better at necropsy pictures than I. There is a lot of fat, isn’t there? The liver looks spotty in the 2nd pic in post 6. I think that can be common in cancers. Cancer may have caused the blood clots. I am really an amateur at necrospy photos.

 

[casportpony]

I agree, liver looks really diseased. Cause of death was almost certainly blood loss. What does her heart look like?

 

[bobbi-j]

It never hurts to open them up if you want to try to figure out what killed your bird. I have done it myself several times. I have never sent one away for necropsy, but I would consider it if I had several die within a short period of time.

 

[7 chicken army]

Sorry forgot the pic of the heart, you can see it in this picture.