Need help Identifying (Graphic)

[Spicyduck]

My chicken had a very hard and large stomach. I had brought her inside for a week or so to keep an eye on her and make her comfortable. She started to feel really bad a few days ago and I could tell she was suffering. I made the hard decision to cull her tonight and do a necropsy. I thought she possibly had Egg yolk peritonitis but seeing what was inside confused me. It was very large and covered in a layer of what looked like skin. Just wanting to get some opinions on what it might be ? And how to prevent it. Everything else inside of her looked very healthy. She was just under 2 years old.

 

[Susan Skylark]

It looks like the body was trying to wall something off, often happens with an infection or foreign body, layers of fibrin then scar tissue form those layers and either the infection wasn’t isolated or the immune system decided the whole thing needed to be bigger for some reason. The other option is some sort of congenital defect like an ovary on the rampage causing inflammation or a tumor of some sort. Maybe the chicken version of an ectopic pregnancy? Some sort of fluke, whatever it is, nothing you could do to prevent or cure, interesting though. I opened up a quail one time that was laying soft shell eggs (blue!) and it looked like someone had splattered toothpaste throughout the body cavity, she was storing blue tinged calcium deposits everywhere but on the eggs, sometimes funky things just happen!

 

[Eggcessive]

That looks like salpingitis/coelomitis with E.coli infection. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is some reading:
https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2114e/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My chicken had a very hard and large stomach. I had brought her inside for a week or so to keep an eye on her and make her comfortable. She started to feel really bad a few days ago and I could tell she was suffering. I made the hard decision to cull her tonight and do a necropsy. I thought she possibly had Egg yolk peritonitis but seeing what was inside confused me. It was very large and covered in a layer of what looked like skin. Just wanting to get some opinions on what it might be ? And how to prevent it. Everything else inside of her looked very healthy. She was just under 2 years old.

I'm sorry about your loss.

Can you tell if The Image below, was that a shelled egg at one point?

IF, it's a shelled egg, then Internal Laying surrounded by caseous exudes.

IF it's not shelled, then likely Lash Egg that has built up in the abdominal cavity.

Did you happen to get any photos of the mass in place or of the Oviduct? Any of that material in the Oviduct too?

Salpingitis (Lash Egg), Internal Laying and Egg Yolk Peritonitis can all 3 look extremely similar, in symptoms and upon necropsy. Sometimes it can be hard to tell which one it is, even by looking.
Sadly, All 3 are relatively Common conditions that affect laying hens.

This can be a sad finding when examining internals, just know, this does happen and unfortunately, there's really no way to treat or prevent these conditions. Even with antibiotics, supportive care, good diet, activity, etc. these conditions do occur. Sometimes medications may help with quality of life and sustain/prolong life for a while longer, but a hen is not able to overcome a condition like this and will eventually succumb.

 

[Spicyduck]

I'm sorry about your loss.

Can you tell if The Image below, was that a shelled egg at one point?

IF, it's a shelled egg, then Internal Laying surrounded by caseous exudes.

IF it's not shelled, then likely Lash Egg that has built up in the abdominal cavity.

Did you happen to get any photos of the mass in place or of the Oviduct? Any of that material in the Oviduct too?

Salpingitis (Lash Egg), Internal Laying and Egg Yolk Peritonitis can all 3 look extremely similar, in symptoms and upon necropsy. Sometimes it can be hard to tell which one it is, even by looking.
Sadly, All 3 are relatively Common conditions that affect laying hens.

This can be a sad finding when examining internals, just know, this does happen and unfortunately, there's really no way to treat or prevent these conditions. Even with antibiotics, supportive care, good diet, activity, etc. these conditions do occur. Sometimes medications may help with quality of life and sustain/prolong life for a while longer, but a hen is not able to overcome a condition like this and will eventually succumb.

View attachment 4281370

Yes. It was an intact shelled egg. No cracks or defects. I put it in a plastic bag to break it and it looked like it had just been in there a while. Nothing too strange about it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes. It was an intact shelled egg. No cracks or defects. I put it in a plastic bag to break it and it looked like it had just been in there a while. Nothing too strange about it.

Then *likely* it would be "called" Internal Laying. With Internal A whole egg, soft shelled egg or yolks/whites can travel back up the Oviduct (Reverse Peristalsis) and be deposited into the abdominal cavity (Coelomic Cavity). The body's response it to try to wall off the "foreign material" and adds layers of caseous exudes.