Necropsy - Fibrous white on heart

[Amart]

Hi all, thanks as always for the help.

I have a mixed flock, got them all about 20 weeks ago. Rhode Island’s, caramel queens and Barred Rock. Total of 22 birds.

All hens, except for 3 barred rock roosters.

All looked healthy in the morning, when I went out 8hrs later, one of the barred rock roosters was found dead. No ones been acting strangely.

I only have a few minutes and opened him up....(YES, definately should have taken pictures).

Crop was full (in a healthy way), no works anywhere I could see (trachea was clear). The 2 abnormalities I noted:
1) the underside of one lobe of the liver had whitish material “dots”, that I could almost rub away. They didn’t look like big nasty tumors/cysts. It was almost like a fibrous material. It was somewhat subtle. The anterior surface of the liver looked normal, it was just on the underside of one of the lobes.

2) same stuff on the outside of the heart (the pericardium). Heart size seeemed appropriate). When I opened the pericardium I could not tell if there was whiteness on the inside of the heart as well.

I have opened up/processed perhaps 100 birds over last 2-3 yrs (I know, not a lot compared to many of you), but any thoughts which could cause sudden death in this situation.

I know, nxt time I’ll take pictures!

Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Without a photo of the "fibrous white material", it's only possible to make a wild stab at guessing. Avian tumors do begin as white "dots", and sometimes a ruined organ is just covered in these tiny little white bumps.

Don't assume it's avian tumors that killed the rooster suddenly, though. Petroleum distillates will kill after just a few hours of ingesting a few contaminated pieces of grit. Do you happen to have any yard equipment, mower, log splitter, etc, sitting around leaking fluids onto the soil where chickens may have been scratching around?

 

[Amart]

Thanks for your thoughts,

No, no liquid. Our birds stay in a large enclosed area, wouldn’t be exposed to any machine liquid.

In terms of your Tumor thought - can young birds get tumors? I assumed they were like ppl, older folks get tumors more than 4 month olds.

Thanks

Without a photo of the "fibrous white material", it's only possible to make a wild stab at guessing. Avian tumors do begin as white "dots", and sometimes a ruined organ is just covered in these tiny little white bumps.

Don't assume it's avian tumors that killed the rooster suddenly, though. Petroleum distillates will kill after just a few hours of ingesting a few contaminated pieces of grit. Do you happen to have any yard equipment, mower, log splitter, etc, sitting around leaking fluids onto the soil where chickens may have been scratching around?

 

[CatWhisperer]

Is heat stroke a possibility where you live?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. White urate deposits can sometimes be found on internal organs when there is kidney disease or viseral gout. Here are some articles and pictures of visceral gout:
https://thepoultrysite.com/publications/diseases-of-poultry/232/gout

 

[azygous]

Young chickens do get tumors, too. Just as human kids can get cancer even while still in the womb. In fact, an avian tumor causing virus can be passed from a hen to her chick embryo in the egg. I had a young cockerel with so many tumors his liver weighed two pounds.

 

[Amart]

Is heat stroke a possibility where you live?

Unlikely. They’ve got nice shade, lots of water, not terribly hot. 80-85F.

 

[Amart]

Hey, if anyone has ideas - I’ve got another chicken looking like going t die. Likely will be dead by tomorrow. Just kind of lying there, a female. No injury or trauma. Still alive at moment. She can stand up if I put her up right. But just stands there and doesn’t do anything. Nothing obvious on detail inspection. Her “egg hole/poop hole” looks fine.

This is looking bad. I’ll be down to 20 birds by tomorrow. Presumably it’s contagius?

I’ll probably treat them all for coccido if that seems reasonable...just in case.

 

[azygous]

Coccidiosis is a possibility. It would not hurt to do a round of Corid. So is a bacterial toxin such as Clostridium perfringens. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and treat the other sick hen with an antibiotic in addition to the Corid.

If your chickens have access to a compost pile or beds of decaying vegetation that is deep enough that anaerobic bacteria at the lower levels never sees the light of day, your chickens could have ingested some. This happened in my flock several years ago, and it killed one hen in just 24 hours. A second hen became sick seven days later, but I recognized the symptoms soon enough to start her on amoxicillin and she survived. https://www.revivalanimal.com/product/fish-mox?sku=22150-174

 

[Amart]

Those are both good thoughts, thank you. If she can make it until tomorrow, I’ll try to get some antibiotics for her.

• They do have access to areas where there could be deeper anaerobic bacteria. Well I’m not sure I’m on of their runs there is honestly a 6” layer of dried chicken poop as the base it’s dried out and solid. I know that is not terrible good hygiene - but if it’s basically completely dried out, could that still be exposing them to anaerobes?

Thanks

[
QUOTE="azygous, post: 21675202, member: 45606"]Coccidiosis is a possibility. It would not hurt to do a round of Corid. So is a bacterial toxin such as Clostridium perfringens. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and treat the other sick hen with an antibiotic in addition to the Corid.

If your chickens have access to a compost pile or beds of decaying vegetation that is deep enough that anaerobic bacteria at the lower levels never sees the light of day, your chickens could have ingested some. This happened in my flock several years ago, and it killed one hen in just 24 hours. A second hen became sick seven days later, but I recognized the symptoms soon enough to start her on amoxicillin and she survived. https://www.revivalanimal.com/product/fish-mox?sku=22150-174[/QUOTE]