Possibly Fowl Cholera

[Msfur08]

To preface, I just had a 7 month old hen die. She suddenly became lethargic (she went from lethargic to dead in less than a day), and I initially thought she had cocci because the only symptom was some weakness, so I started treating her with Corid. I noticed she was very thirsty which I hadn't noticed before whenever we dealt with cocci. I also noticed she was twitching her head which I wasn't sure if she was stressed. I wanted to wait a bit to see her droppings and expected to see the classic mucusy/bloody droppings. But instead, she had a single, very small black, tarry, dry dropping. And at that point she also had bloody mucus coming from her beak which was a new one for me. Internet said possibly internal bleeding and before I could come to a conclusion, she slightly convulsed and died. We performed a necropsy today - our first ever, so we relied on YouTube to help us figure out how to do it and what looked normal. I expected to see something like a nail or staple perforating something in her upper GI tract, but that's not what we found.

NOTE: She did NOT exhibit any respiratory symptoms (no sneezing, wheezing, labored breathing, etc.)

We found:

Likely Normal Things:
Normal weight and breast size for her breed (Easter Egger)
Yellow skin that is apparently normal depending on breed
Grass and some grit in her crop and gizzard
Normal esophagus
Normal trachea except the end of it (where it is firmer) looked a bit pinched and we weren't sure if that was normal
No worms or mites
No broken bones or bruising

Likely Abnormal Things:
Tiny white spots on the liver
A spleen full of blood
Coagulated blood in the heart though the outside of the heart was pale (still not sure if that falls in the range of normal)
A cottage cheese-like substance in the chest cavity but couldn't determine where exactly it came from

Things I'm Not Sure About:
Clumpy areas in the intestines while other areas were very fluid
An orange appearance on the connective tissues

We have not noticed any other birds with symptoms, BUT we did have one that died suddenly of unknown causes a couple months ago. We didn't do a necropsy on her. She was almost 4 years old and a Cream Legbar.

I am suspecting Fowl Cholera because of the sudden death and the bloody mucus from the mouth as well as the other abnormal finding from the necropsy.
I'm wondering if I should treat my other birds (including hens and roosters of various breeds including bantam breeds varying from 7 months to 4 years, some guinea fowl, and turkeys - two hens and a tom).

From what I read, Tylan is the med of choice for this one. I am not opposed to injecting the medication (we have done several paracentesis on two hens over the last couple years). However, putting it in their water would be simpler since we have 44 birds and especially the guinea do not like to be handled and are difficult to tell apart. Either way, I need help with dosage or other recommended medications. Also, if you think it might be some other cause, please let me know.

At the moment, we plan to clean out the bedding and give them HydroHen and minced garlic in their water and probably oregano and cinnamon powders on their food to help boost immunity until we figure out a better treatment option.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Welcome from New Orleans! As I read through your post, there were a few things that concerned me: The end of the trachea looking pinched; white spots on the liver (what color is the over all liver color?); a spleen full of blood; coagulated blood in the heart (the heart was not beating properly); pale colored heart (clogged. coronary arteries, heart not pumping properly, heart muscle not getting enough blood to function properly [possible multiple heart attacks]). heart should be red in color. Cottage cheese substance in chest, is indicative of infection, that sounds like it may have been going on for a while.
Chickens are very good at hiding illness, so don't beat yourself up too much.
I am not sure what started her down fall, but she was very ill and it sounds to me like she may have been bleeding internally, she may have been septic and her organs began to shut down. Or she may have been injured (severe internal injuries) and was too injured to recover.
I am just a retired ICU/Cardic Cath Lab RN. I am sure you will hear from more knowledgable people. I am very sorry you lost your hen.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry to hear about your hen.
Did you take photos?

Tiny white spots on the liver
A spleen full of blood

Look up Histomoniasis (look for liver photos), Spotty Liver Disease, Lymphatic tumors of the liver (from Avian Lukosis or Marek's), Fatty Liver Disease.
Tiny white spot can mean a lot of different things to different people - if you don't have photos, perhaps one of these conditions will look similar to what you saw?

she also had bloody mucus coming from her beak which was a new one for me. Internet said possibly internal bleeding

Coagulated blood in the heart

Perhaps this is where the blood was coming from through her beak, hard to know.

A cottage cheese-like substance in the chest cavity but couldn't determine where exactly it came from

Chest cavity - where? Do you have photos?
Was the substance loose in the chest(?) cavity or attached to something - was it tumors or actually loose bits?

Clumpy areas in the intestines while other areas were very fluid
An orange appearance on the connective tissues

Again, photos would be helpful - orange appearance or perhaps dark yellow? Was it fat?
Clumpy areas in the intestines, does this mean the intestine was full of material or do you mean like clusters of tumors on the outside of the intestines?

I am suspecting Fowl Cholera because of the sudden death and the bloody mucus from the mouth as well as the other abnormal finding from the necropsy.
I'm wondering if I should treat my other birds

From what I read, Tylan is the med of choice for this one. I am not opposed to injecting the medication (we have done several paracentesis on two hens over the last couple years). However, putting it in their water would be simpler since we have 44 birds

If you do lose another in a very short period of time, then try to send the body to your state lab for professional diagnostics and testing. I'm all for diy, I do my own too, but if you are dealing with something like Cholera, then you really really need to know, it's not a disease you want in your flock.

Tylan is most commonly used to treat Respiratory Infection, usually due to Mycoplasma. Perhaps it may treat Fowl Cholera, but it would not be my first choice. Often depopulation may be the best option to get on top of infection.