Necropsy - Not Egg bound - What else could it be?

[PamW]

One of my hens had symptoms of being egg bound. I tried everything recommended online but she died so I decided to see how many eggs were in there since her abdomen was so firm and full and yet there was not meat on her breastbone. To my surprise, there were no eggs at all but she was FULL of something that was yellowish white and resembled the texture of cooked white chicken meat. What would this be?

 

[FridayYet]

Sounds like it could be egg yolk peritonitis, or maybe a cancerous tumor?

Sorry about losing your hen, hope you figure out what happened.

 

[PamW]

Thank you so much! I didn't even know where to begin to look and that helped a lot. I found pictures online of egg yolk peritonitis and that is definitely what it had to be. Her insides were completely full of this stuff but her intestines seemed empty. I have read several different articles about but I still have some questions. The main one being do I need to be concerned for my other hens. It seems that the actual egg yolk part has more to do with a particular hen's physical design where the yolk ends up where it shouldn't be, however, do I need to be concerned about the bacteria that caused any infection? One site mentioned E.coli -- does that mean my other hens are at risk for infections caused by E.coli, or possibly human exposure (like grandkids)? I can't find any more information in regard to this.

 

[FridayYet]

I'm not an expert on this, but I would think your other hens and your family would be at a low risk of picking up anything. The infection was internal, and like you said started by the reproductive issues. If your other hens are from the same breeding stock, they could be more likely to have similar issues due to weak reproductive system structure.

People would be only at risk from the stuff chickens normally can carry, so enforcing good hand washing and having "coop shoes" is always a good idea.

 

[PamW]

Thanks again.

So glad to have people willing to share their knowledge.