Plz Help Identify Cause of Duck Death

[Olamina]

Hey everyone I have been meaning to stop by here but I didn't intend to do it under such crappy circumstances. Today one of my Pekin girls SweetPea suddenly died.

I did an autopsy and this is what I found. All of her organs and everything were the proper color however upon the first ( and very careful incision) I noticed a bunch of dark yellow liquid inside of her. I have butchered 5 ducks, 3 quail, and a rabbit. I am by no means an expert but I never saw this yellow liquid inside of any of the other animals I cut open. My guess is her gall bladder burst which in my opinion might explain the liquid. Does anyone else have experience with this? Or maybe know what caused it? My handy dandy duck book wasn't helpful and I searched the net to no avail. Any and all help is as always much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

There is something called "water belly." A yellow liquid builds up in the abdominal cavity.

One site I read attributed it to heart disease, another mentioned that it can happen as a result of peritonitis.

I have lost two ducks to egg yolk peritonitis. It can appear to happen quickly. Actually the disease progresses slowly, but the duck doesn't show symptoms until very near the end. At least, that's what happened to Neun and Michele.

 

[Olamina]

Thanks. I think you are dead on the money. Her vent was swollen when I autopsied as well. Could this be because she hadn't started her laying feed yet?

 

[Amiga]

That would be a long shot, I think.

I lost Drei when she was 7 months old. Did not know about necropsies then, it may have been a problem with her oviduct. Sometimes these things don't show up until they reach maturity (laying age). But missing the optimum window for calcium supplementation (four weeks prior to laying) does not stand out for me as a major risk. It's not out of the question, though.

Were there any eggs in the oviduct? Or dark objects?