Necropsy of my Lav. Orp. whom I found dead this A.M. 12/14/14

[DaveOmak]

She was about 7 months old.... 4 months in my flock.. All were purchased at the same time... And about the same age.. Roo might be 8-9 months old.... Seemed healthy yesterday... Saw a full crop.... maybe the roo was doing his thing and hurt her really bad.... He's HUGE and she was smaller the Wyandotte..

Her crop was EMPTY... no food in her esophagus... Everything smelled normal when I cut her open.... Smelled just like a dove, grouse, duck or goose... Liver looked perfect... so did the heart, lungs, spleen and gizzard... Gizzard was full.... had grit in it an plenty of food... No eggs in "waiting"... she hadn't laid any eggs yet... although I have had 2 thin shelled (small) eggs on the poop board the last month or so... don't know who laid those... She was skinny, really not meaty... but then I have no idea how much meat a laying hen should have on her... Sooooo, by now you know just how much I don't know.... but still trying to learn...

The yellow in the gizzard "could" be from the sweet corn I gave them yesterday... corn off the cob we had in the freezer...

NOTE.. edit.... I didn't find much blood in her...

If someone has anything to share that could provide some pertinent info as to the cause of death, that would be helpful...

...Rooster and Wyandotte..


.. Operatory... ... Bird Dunk hot and soapy water.. .Liver, Lungs, heart and other stuff.


....spleen with gizzard visible.... ..gizzard... ..gizzard cut open ...


...Checking for trauma.....

 

[casportpony]

What did the intestines look like? Did you cute them open and look for worms?

-Kathy

 

[DaveOmak]

What did the intestines look like? Did you cute them open and look for worms?

-Kathy

Intestines were small in diameter.... didn't think to cut them open.... There's a good picture of them if you can tell anything from that....

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Somehow I overlooked that picture... I have not seen enough intestines to know what's normal and what's not. Cutting them open is what I usually do, though I don't *usually* find anything useful.

-Kathy

 

[Peep_Show]

Did she have a broken neck? She might've flown into a wall or the ceiling.

 

[casportpony]

Did she have a broken neck? She might've flown into a wall or the ceiling.

She was skinny, so probably not an injury.

-Kathy

 

[DaveOmak]

Did she have a broken neck? She might've flown into a wall or the ceiling.

I checked all the vertebrae in the neck and couldn't find a break, as far as I could tell...

 

[casportpony]

@DaveOmak , how thin was she?

-Kathy

 

[DaveOmak]

@DaveOmak , how thin was she?

-Kathy

Breast meat was maybe 3/4" thick at it's thickest... tapered down to nothing at the breast bone.... I mean nothing... Breast bone was right there... no meat adjoining it...

Maybe she was just being bullied.... when I saw here trying to eat, a big red sagitta would run over to the feeder and she would leave... The sagitta hens are about 8#'s...... this pic is a few months old... the Orp is in the back row right side... barely see here behing the dotte...

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Everything looks pretty good to me, but I would take her empty crop and skinniness as a big clue. I also like to cut open the guts and ceca lengthwise to look for hemorrhages and worms. Same for the trachea.