Necropsy pictures (graphic images), help please..

[Briani]

Part 1
We have some Red Star chickens that are about 2.5 years old. And they are starting to get what my wife is calling water belly, ( its not the crop ) and she believes Coccidiosis. They have a white pasty butt. Its not all the Chickens but it seems like a new one every week or couple of weeks. we drained one and got the clear yellow liquid out ( like is described in the posts and youtube videos we seen). about a week and a half later she started getting big again. She died Friday. We are loosing chickens too fast if you ask me. We've tried to find out what is causing this and how to fix this problem. If anyone can help me figure this out I would really appreciate it. I think I'm going to add Apple Cider Vinegar to their water today. I guess that helps there gut Flora, but besides that I don't know. Thank you for your help..

part 2
Ok so we did a Necropsy on the chicken today and took some pictures. ( I am by no means a professional or skilled in anatomy in any way but I tried ) There's a couple things that we didn't know. What are these little white raised bumps all over the guts? And the green thing not sure what that is either. Thank you for your help..

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not an expert on necropsies, but in seeing the little bumps everywhere, I would guess that your hen may have had a virus causing cancer, such as lymphoid leukosis or Mareks disease. It would be great if others, such as @casportpony, @rebrascora and others, with more experience chime in.

Can you show a clear shot of the liver?

 

[Nambroth]

So sorry you are losing your hens. Sex-linked production hens have a very, very high incidence of fatal reproductive issues due to the focus on egg production in breeding these birds. My vet, who specializes in avians and sees many pet/backyard chickens yearly, says that they are her number one patient for reproductive illness and that sadly many of them never live to see three years of age. Your birds at 2.5 are in the prime age group for these issues, sadly. They have amongst the highest rates for reproductive cancer, egg peritonitis, ascites (water belly), etc. If you'd like to avoid these issues in the future, you can consider a breed less known for high production. The trade off, of course, is that you may have less egg production! There are no cures for these ailments... it's pure genetics and valuing egg production over longevity that causes this in these hens. Peritonitis can sometimes be managed if caught early, but requires expensive veterinary intervention that most people can not or won't do.

I can tell you the white dots all throughout her system are probably reproductive cancer. I lost my golden comet (a red sex linked production chicken) to this, exactly. We took her to the vet and did an ultrasound and discovered the cancer all though her viscera. She was suffering and so we kindly euthanized her. A necropsy showed just what you experienced above (this was not a home diagnosis but one made by a licensed avian vet). I didn't take photos because she was a loved pet and I didn't think of it at the time. This doesn't look like Marek's or Avian Lymphoid Leukosis, to me... it just looks like (sadly) reproductive cancer.
Your photos also look like she may have had some peritonitis, which is another common illness in production hens. See: the yellow yolky material.

 

[Kiki]

Thank you for sharing pictures.

 

[Eggcessive]

It was difficult to find pictures of similar necropsy pictures. Here is one link I found about leukosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/202/lymphoid-leukosis/

Leukosis can cause liver disease. Ascites can be a result of egg yolk peritonitis, liver disease, and heart failure.

 

[Kiki]

It was difficult to find pictures of similar necropsy pictures. Here is one link I found about leukosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/202/lymphoid-leukosis/

Leukosis can cause liver disease. Ascites can be a result of egg yolk peritonitis, liver disease, and heart failure.

I'm not so sure I am seeing any leukosis here.

I do not think your deaths are related to Coccidiosis.
You can have fresh poop tested by a vet to rule it out.
I agree with the others...this is probably breed/age related and not something you can fix.

You can send a body in to your state vet, next death, to get a confirmation on what is causing the death.
What state are you in?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

@Briani

You are brave soul! Sorry for your losses.

Thank you SOOO much for sharing valuable information and pics. It will help move me THAT much closer to being able to do this for myself as well.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi
Well done for opening her up. It certainly highlights the terminal issue which is a cancer of some description with all those nodules. The green things appear to be in or next to the ovary, so I am guessing they are probably infected follicles. As @Nambroth says, your flock issues stem from the age and breed of birds you have.... some red sex links will make it past 3years but the majority probably won't. There is a price to pay for their wonderful productivity.
I'm sorry there is nothing much I can suggest to improve the longevity of the remaining flock members. This is unlikely to be coccidiosis related unless the cancer compromises their immune system. Most adult chickens develop immunity to the coccidia in their environment. The times they are at risk from it are when they are moved to a new environment and perhaps exposed to different strains of it that their bodies have previously not encountered or their immune system is suppressed by some other illness or stress.

 

[Nambroth]

It was difficult to find pictures of similar necropsy pictures. Here is one link I found about leukosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/202/lymphoid-leukosis/

Leukosis can cause liver disease. Ascites can be a result of egg yolk peritonitis, liver disease, and heart failure.

The leukosis lymphomas and lesions do look a bit different, I think. They tend to have a different "texture", for a lack of a better descriptor. I was (unfortunate) enough to see some Marek's lymphomas and they have a somewhat different look to them, too.

The breed and age of the hens matches up better with reproductive cancer. I'm not an expert though and I won't say to rule out leukosis, just that it seems more likely that it's reproductive.

I did some searching for photos of what reproductive cancer looks like in hens, and found this similar image from an old BYC post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/need-help-identifying-disease.978257/

 

[cottontail farm]

I've never seen anything like this in a bird. Thank you very much for sharing the pictures so we can all learn.