Home necropsy - graphic photos

[Sammster]

Please don't judge. I realize this is not a clean necropsy. It's my first, and I had a difficult time. It's also incomplete. I stopped when I thought/hoped I had enough information.

Trixy died unexpectedly, last night. I did not notice any signs of illness or distress, leading up to her death.

First observation: very excessive abdominal fat. I think this is my fault. Too many treats.

Second observation: large, unpigmented egg. Larger than normal for this hen. I'm not certain when her last lay was, but I think it was 2 days ago?

I did not dissect her crop. It seemed normal? Her gizzard... was on the opposite side of her body, than the necropsy video? Her liver seemed very large

 

[Sammster]

@Eggcessive

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I think its great you did this and I think you did a good job. Thank you for sharing-i was curious what happened and if you were going to send her off or do it yourself. I would like to see what more experienced folk have to say if it was a fat situation or egg-binding.

 

[Sammster]

I did crack her egg open. The shell was so thin that I could see light through it. It wasn't a rubbery shell, but it was totally pliable. I was able to bend it in half without breaking it

 

[Eggcessive]

Congratulations that you were able to perform the necropsy. I am not an expert on necropsies. There is a lot of fat, yes. The liver looks brightly colored, not tan or putty colored when there is fatty liver disease. Did you see any signs of a blood clot near the liver?

 

[Sammster]

Congratulations that you were able to perform the necropsy. I am not an expert on necropsies. There is a lot of fat, yes. The liver looks brightly colored, not tan or putty colored when there is fatty liver disease. Did you see any signs of a blood clot near the liver?

I did not. But, to be honest, I didnt look closely, aside from noticing the size. I will unwrap and look

 

[Sammster]

No, I did not see signs of blood clots. The liver looked smaller than when I first opened her, but I think I cut into it, removing her breast plate

 

[Eggcessive]

I’m going to tag @casportpony for any onservations.

 

[Eggcessive]

Tagging @azygous and @coach723 and @Wyorp Rock for any thoughts on the necropsy photos.

 

[azygous]

Was this egg in a sack right next to the cloaca? Or was it just inside the cloaca? Could you tell?

Internal laying, eggs don't have shells and are floating in the abdominal cavity. But a stuck egg might.have a thin shell. If the egg was still inside the uterus or shell gland, it may have stuck. Another possibility is sudden death syndrome from low blood calcium. The shell gland sucks out all available calcium from the blood, and this causes a heart attack.

To avoid this, when you see a hen laying thin shell or "rubber" eggs, getting her immediately on several days of calcium helps keep blood calcium high and also helps correct the shell issue.