Partial necropsy. Is this a tumor?

[joydysert]

I just found my 3 yr old olive Egger dead. No warning. I looked her over for the usual suspects and only found what felt like a hard knot in or near her crop. Unfortunately I did not cut it open before I buried her. It was next to her crop. Looks like fat, and it ran down both sides of her breast on the skin. Like I said it was hard. Does anyone know what this is?

 

[coach723]

I'm very sorry for your loss.
It does look like fat. Some birds develop a layer of abdominal fat which can be very unhealthy for them and can lead to fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome. If you had looked at the internal organs that might have confirmed if her liver was not healthy. The liver can become very friable (crumbly for lack of a better term) and they can hemorrhage and die suddenly. It can be caused by genetics or a diet that is imbalanced with too many fatty treats. Some birds are just more prone to it. The crop may have had food in it which made it feel hard, looking inside would have answered that question. Sometimes the more things you look at the clearer the answer becomes. Just looking at normal organs and being familiar with what is normal can help in identifying when something doesn't look quite right. There are many things that can happen, especially over the age of two, with laying hens.

 

[joydysert]

I'm very sorry for your loss.
It does look like fat. Some birds develop a layer of abdominal fat which can be very unhealthy for them and can lead to fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome. If you had looked at the internal organs that might have confirmed if her liver was not healthy. The liver can become very friable (crumbly for lack of a better term) and they can hemorrhage and die suddenly. It can be caused by genetics or a diet that is imbalanced with too many fatty treats. Some birds are just more prone to it. The crop may have had food in it which made it feel hard, looking inside would have answered that question. Sometimes the more things you look at the clearer the answer becomes. Just looking at normal organs and being familiar with what is normal can help in identifying when something doesn't look quite right. There are many things that can happen, especially over the age of two, with laying hens.

I'm very sorry for your loss.
It does look like fat. Some birds develop a layer of abdominal fat which can be very unhealthy for them and can lead to fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome. If you had looked at the internal organs that might have confirmed if her liver was not healthy. The liver can become very friable (crumbly for lack of a better term) and they can hemorrhage and die suddenly. It can be caused by genetics or a diet that is imbalanced with too many fatty treats. Some birds are just more prone to it. The crop may have had food in it which made it feel hard, looking inside would have answered that question. Sometimes the more things you look at the clearer the answer becomes. Just looking at normal organs and being familiar with what is normal can help in identifying when something doesn't look quite right. There are many things that can happen, especially over the age of two, with laying hens.

Thank you for your response. I did cut open her crop as well. not much there just some winners scratch. I wouldnt know what to look for if I had cut her completely open. They only get some leafy greens a couple times a week. Winners scratch and layers pellets. Nothing that I think is fattening. I agree it looked like fat. But the ball was very hard. The heat is on but it wasn't that hot this morning. They have a shady coop in an open barn. With fans. I am just sad to lose her. And her eggs were army green.

 

[joydysert]

Thank you for your response. I did cut open her crop as well. not much there just some winners scratch. I wouldnt know what to look for if I had cut her completely open. They only get some leafy greens a couple times a week. Winners scratch and layers pellets. Nothing that I think is fattening. I agree it looked like fat. But the ball was very hard. The heat is on but it wasn't that hot this morning. They have a shady coop in an open barn. With fans. I am just sad to lose her. And her eggs were army green.

Oh and one more thing. That fat was not abdominal. It was next to her crop. Does that make it different?

 

[coach723]

Without seeing the rest of her, I don't know. Do you know if there was fat in the abdomen as well? I've had some with fat deposits mostly in the lower abdomen, and some that had it spread more evenly across the abdomen and breast. I can't see much in the pictures, so it's hard to say. Scratch grains can contribute to fattiness, most scratch contains a fair amount of corn, which is carbs. And they tend to pick and choose those bits they like best. Might be a good idea to back off on the amount of that they are getting. I don't give scratch very often at all, they do love it though. But she may have been genetically predisposed to build up fat also. I lost a 9 month old pullet that had early fatty liver disease, never would have known if I hadn't looked, she had a pretty heavy amount of fat and I'm pretty careful about their diet, so in her case assume genetics played a part (she was a purchased chick).
If you want to learn how to do a necropsy (you learn by doing) these links may help. And there are several people active on here who will look at pictures and help you try to determine what happened based on their own experiences. Just put something in your subject line indicating there are necropsy pictures, so people know what to expect.
https://vet.uga.edu/oldvpp/programs/afvet/attachments/how_to_necropsy_a_bird.pdf
https://nctc.fws.gov/resources/cour...vestigation/Avian_Necropsy_Manual-English.pdf

 

[joydysert]

Thank you for your help and advise. Next time I will certainly be more thorough. I didn't cut all the way down but as I pulled up the skin and feathers it appeared that the fat lines the skin all the way down both sides. No big balls of fat except for the one though.

 

[joydysert]

Oh and the scratch. Its winners scratch and I do give it fairly freely in the winter and not much in the summer. Geez the carbs are bad even for chickens!! I will cut back on that more