My first necropsy on my lovely Matilda (graphic pic warning).

[PouleChick]

Looks like lash eggs to me

No I don't htink it was - lash eggs (as I understand it is a hard / puss / gross egg). The egg you see in the picture that came out of the liquid is just a soft shell'less egg - so never got to the spot in the tube where the shell is added I guessed.

Chicken keeping is not just about the eggs, or meat, it is also about learning from your experiences, and what to do in certain situations.

absolutely!

I think Mabel and Clementine (the other 2 of my 3 original girls) were looking for her today, she as always the first to run in the 'human coop' if I left the back door open and they were looking around this afternoon and Clem' especially keeps coming up to me more than normal when she sees me.

 

[aart]

No I don't htink it was - lash eggs

I think @Trux was referring to this:

 

[PouleChick]

I think @Trux was referring to this:

Oh sorry I'm sure you are right - I'm past my bedtime Night all

 

[Trux]

No I don't htink it was - lash eggs (as I understand it is a hard / puss / gross egg). The egg you see in the picture that came out of the liquid is just a soft shell'less egg - so never got to the spot in the tube where the shell is added I guessed.

absolutely!

I think Mabel and Clementine (the other 2 of my 3 original girls) were looking for her today, she as always the first to run in the 'human coop' if I left the back door open and they were looking around this afternoon and Clem' especially keeps coming up to me more than normal when she sees me.

I'm sure she is wondering where her flock mate went. I have found a few in my coop and run when I have went out to check on my girls. The flock has an unusual quietness when you remove a dead flock mate, compared to the clucks and cackles of a normal morning. I also noticed they keep their distance from the dead body

 

[Trux]

I think @Trux was referring to this:

yup I was referring to that

 

[rebrascora]

@Liddy

So sorry for your loss but a big WELL DONE for opening her up. I know that takes a lot of courage and gumption. It would appear that she was laying internally and developed peritonitis as others have mentioned. Internal laying can go on for weeks or even months and the hen behave relatively normally other than a slowly swelling belly which is generally well hidden by feathers. Sometimes a poopy butt will indicate that there may be a problem but sometimes not. The hen will sometimes start to walk with a wider stance and not be quite as agile due to the increased weight, but these are often not obvious until you have gone through an experience like this and become more observant because you know what to look for. I'm not sure why some become infected like this whilst others can have a belly full of egg yolks that are relatively inert and it is just the sheer mass of them that kills them, but there was nothing you could have done to prevent it.

@Liddy
As others have said, that is a lash egg which would be impacted in the oviduct and is caused by Salpingitis which is an infection of the oviduct. The infection is usually isolated to the oviduct and therefore ascites is unlikely to occur because the abdominal cavity is not compromised. Sometimes however the lash egg causes egg yolks to back up behind it and spill out into the abdominal cavity but more often it acts in the same way as being egg bound and constricts the gut preventing the bird from passing waste and they die of toxic build up. Usually a bird with Salpigitis will have an obvious swelling below the vent and a soiled and sometimes balding butt whereas ascites and internal laying tends to cause swelling lower down between the legs.

 

[Abriana]

I’m so sorry about your beautiful girl. I can tell that she had a very loving owner and I’m sure that she knew it too

 

[PouleChick]

I'm not sure why some become infected like this whilst others can have a belly full of egg yolks that are relatively inert and it is just the sheer mass of them that kills them, but there was nothing you could have done to prevent it.

Thanks for your extra info - I'll be sure to keep a closer eye for the sort of physical / stance modifications you describe from now on. I do feel better that there was nothing I could have done. Amazing that they can live at all with all that in them

I’m so sorry about your beautiful girl. I can tell that she had a very loving owner and I’m sure that she knew it too

Thank you

 

[Liddy]

@Liddy
As others have said, that is a lash egg which would be impacted in the oviduct and is caused by Salpingitis which is an infection of the oviduct. The infection is usually isolated to the oviduct and therefore ascites is unlikely to occur because the abdominal cavity is not compromised. Sometimes however the lash egg causes egg yolks to back up behind it and spill out into the abdominal cavity but more often it acts in the same way as being egg bound and constricts the gut preventing the bird from passing waste and they die of toxic build up. Usually a bird with Salpigitis will have an obvious swelling below the vent and a soiled and sometimes balding butt whereas ascites and internal laying tends to cause swelling lower down between the legs.

Interesting...so a lash egg is what that mess was...thank you for the information!

I have a strong streak of scientific curiosity. The largest portion of what I removed from the hen in the photo was about the size of a grapefruit. It consisted of nested spheres of what appeared to be a tough layer encasing yolky paste. The tough layers had definite integrity. That was what led me to speculate that the hen's body had made repeated attempts to encapsulate the original deposit. There were auxiliary deposits surrounding it, which I presume were additional yolks backed up.

Is salpigitis contagious? Hens with balding butts in friends' flocks generally have been dismissed as the victims of hens higher in the pecking order. I'm now wondering if that is perhaps dead wrong. Not sure if the hens looked like they had swelling because we aren't used to seeing them without feathers or if they actually were swollen.

 

[bruceha2000]

So sorry you lost Matilda and good on you for doing the necropsy (*)
Always better to have an idea what happened.

I've done 3 and found really large blood clots in each (ie fatty liver disease). I didn't necropsy the first one, she was 3 months shy of 2 years. Fine and looking well at 8 AM, dead at 11 still flexible. I did do the next 3, all the same symptoms, the last was fine at 6 PM, dead in the same spot I saw her half an hour later. At least it is a non painful death given how quick they bleed out internally.

I am ASSUMING that is what happened to Aria a week ago. Fine in the morning, talking to me from the alpaca stand, dead on the ground later in the day. She was only 10 months old.

* autopsy is humans, necropsy for animals other than humans.