Quail Necropsy (Warning- lots of gross images)

[danalovesdogs]

Wish I'd done this with the hens I lost earlier

If you ever have anything happen to other hens (but hopefully not!) post some pictures here. We’ll see if we can figure out what went wrong

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If you ever have anything happen to other hens (but hopefully not!) post some pictures here. We’ll see if we can figure out what went wrong

I will. We're thinking one hit her head too hard and one drowned while mating (eww) but my mom likes doing this thing so I'll have help

 

[Kiki]

Case study #2: Sudden death of a young laying hen

Two days ago, I found one of my pure falb fee hens (a little under 2 months of age) dead at morning check-in. I hadn't noticed any abnormalities the night prior, but someone in that cage had been laid two soft-shelled eggs between 7 weeks of age and now. Egg production was low out of this cage, because most of the birds were in molt.
View attachment 2094272
Because of the soft-shelled eggs and how quickly she passed, I was pretty suspicious of egg binding. This hen was a bit jumpier than the others, however, so I wanted to rule out injury.
In general, if a bird dies suddenly without apparent cause I tend to look for these three things:
1. Head trauma
2. Egg binding (if female)
3. Hepatic lipidosis or "fatty liver" (especially important in mature laying hens who are in a cage or confined setup)

Start off by examining the external features. I'm a big fan of looking at EVERYTHING, because it can tell you about the health of your flock in general.
Nothing was apparent on the head. No swellings, nasal or ocular discharge, so didn't look like a respiratory issue. Nares and mouth were clean and clear of blood.

The crop was empty. Depending on how easy it is to break down the specific diet, the crop should empty in 10-16 hours off feed. Since they don't eat in the dark, the empty crop told me that there likely wasn't an impaction in the upper GI. The keel was not prominent, so she hadn't been off feed for a long while.

There wasn't any blood or scrapes on the wings.

The vent/cloaca looked like it might have been prolapsed or occluded.
View attachment 2095527

I palpated the area around the vent and could feel an unusual crackling bulge above it.

Peeling the feathers off, I didn't note any trauma to the body.
View attachment 2095531

Peeling back the feathers on the neck revealed the empty crop (yellow fluid filled sac)
View attachment 2095536

The esophagus was clear, so choking wasn't likely.
View attachment 2095545

As a final rule out for head trauma, I peeled back the skin up to the level of the orbit/eye sockets
View attachment 2095537

There was blood accumulation on one side by the ear. Don't be fooled, though- it was the side of her head that was facing down when she passed, and there was no redness or inflammation in the tissues surrounding it. No head trauma here.
View attachment 2095540

Normally when I butcher a bird, I remove the spine and peel the organs out that way. I wanted to leave the reproductive tract intact, though, so this view is from the side where I've slit the connective tissue and peeled back the keel and breast to reveal organs underneath. The yellow balls are follicles, which become the yolk in eggs. The structure above them with the blue shiny tissue is the gizzard/ventriculus.
View attachment 2095565

Be sure to check the liver in all your necropsies! Hepatic lipidosis is super common in confined poultry and will require you to reconsider your feed. Birds with fatty liver can die at the drop of a dime from internal bleeding- even a friendly peck can kill birds at the advanced stages. Their liver will be enlarged, putty-colored, mottled, and super weak to the touch. If it was the cause of death, you'll see evidence of multiple bloody hemorrhages. The liver on this bird looks healthy, nice and dark. In this picture we are looking at it from the underside. (The dark tissue)
View attachment 2095575

Checked out the heart and air sacs after the liver. Nothing unusual there. A bit of blood had leaked out of the pericardial sac.
View attachment 2095604

Removed the fat to view the reproductive tract- Bingo!
The light, bubblegum pink tissue under the yellow follicles is the beginning of the repro tract. The large, darkly mottled bulge toward the tail end is supposed to be the same color, but is inflamed and bruised.
View attachment 2095613

Here's a close up. Not pretty. It is squishy and not hard like it should be with a calcified egg.
View attachment 2095615

Here it is pulled out so you can better view the ovary with follicles and the shell gland connecting to the cloaca. There is massive hemorrhage beneath where the shell gland sat.
View attachment 2095616

Here's our culprit: An egg lodged in the shell gland with no shell.
View attachment 2095620
View attachment 2095624

Here's the whole oviduct pulled out. 'In' stands for infundibulum, where the follicles enter. Normally it looks like a little cup and sits right underneath them. Fertilization occurs here.
'M' is for magnum- it's in this part of the oviduct where the albumin/egg white is made.
'Is' is the isthmus, which is narrower and where the egg membrane forms
'Sg' is the shell gland, where the egg is currently stuck. This is where the shell is laid around the egg. This is the last stop before it's laid.
View attachment 2095636

Prevention: Calcium, calcium, and more calcium. Be sure not to mix it in the feed and to only offer it free-choice because hypercalcemia is a whole 'nother beast. Check your feed's calcium, hopefully it is higher than 3%. Supplement periodically with vitamins and electrolytes, as deficiencies may weaken the force of uterine contractions.
Young hens are especially vulnerable. If you see any bird squatting, walking weirdly, or spending an unusual amount of time where they typically lay, act immediately. They are unlikely to make it more than 48 hours without intervention, less if the egg is stuck where it impacts the GI.

Thanks for reading! Hope it's helpful! Sorry this one's up a little late, I got distracted by my eggs hatching early

 

[Tre3hugger]

Fascinating thread. Thanks @danalovesdogs !

 

[jjaazzy]

This was totally awesome and you are fantastic with your definitions, sometimes I follow stuff like this and they author says see here, and I am like NO I don't see it, your description and definition was so above and beyond. However I didn't see the lungs in the one shot. That's just me, like I said I have trouble following. But this was so awesome to actually see each section and have it explained. I raise chickens so, it applies there as well. You mentioned that if you see a bird with problems act quickly, what should we be doing? Trying to crack the lodged egg? Good points on the calcium and vitamins as well another cross over. However I do periodically mix in the calcium with chicken feed. I think they pick it up as needed.
Fantastic I hope to see more from you!

 

[danalovesdogs]

This was totally awesome and you are fantastic with your definitions, sometimes I follow stuff like this and they author says see here, and I am like NO I don't see it, your description and definition was so above and beyond. However I didn't see the lungs in the one shot. That's just me, like I said I have trouble following. But this was so awesome to actually see each section and have it explained. I raise chickens so, it applies there as well. You mentioned that if you see a bird with problems act quickly, what should we be doing? Trying to crack the lodged egg? Good points on the calcium and vitamins as well another cross over. However I do periodically mix in the calcium with chicken feed. I think they pick it up as needed.
Fantastic I hope to see more from you!

You’re in luck, I was just butchering some healthy males today and was able to snap a few pics of what the lungs look like in spatchcocked birds. Hopefully these images will help clarify!
To orient you, the head is downwards and I’ve started a cut alongside the spine.

If you open up the cut, the lungs are adhered to the ribs along the back of the animal (a little bit will be cut out when you remove the spine). It’s the bright pink triangle that starts right at the tip of my pointer finger.

This is what it looks like when peeled away from the chest wall. The blue is where the lung used to be and the green is it currently.

As for breaking the egg, that’s a last resort option if you can’t make it to a vet and the vitamin/calcium supplementation, epsom salt bath, and cloacal lubrication have failed. Having the contents of the egg and sharp pieces within the oviduct can be very painful and often leads to infection if the appropriate antibiotics aren’t on board, especially if the insides of the egg cannot be removed prior to it being crushed. However, leaving a bird egg bound will result in death if untreated so in some cases it may be worth a shot.
Hope that helps!

 

[jjaazzy]

How do you do the lubrication and what would you use petroleum ? I have never witnessed it, but like to be on the ready. What is the formula for the epson salts? I have thought about doing exploratory surgery after I find one has passed but don’t know enough to really conclude a finding anyway, and I’m pretty wimpy too. Have you ever done anything with a impacted crop when they are alive. We were having issues here and there but I quit mowing during the day and moved it to later, this gives them less time to pick up the long blades of grass and overnight for the grass to shrivel. So the situation hasn’t come up in years. But thought I’d ask if you have dealt with it, you very comfortable with the inners. side note, those lungs look to be proportionately bigger than chickens, no?

 

[shrimpsilkies]

Case study #2: Sudden death of a young laying hen

Two days ago, I found one of my pure falb fee hens (a little under 2 months of age) dead at morning check-in. I hadn't noticed any abnormalities the night prior, but someone in that cage had been laid two soft-shelled eggs between 7 weeks of age and now. Egg production was low out of this cage, because most of the birds were in molt.
View attachment 2094272
Because of the soft-shelled eggs and how quickly she passed, I was pretty suspicious of egg binding. This hen was a bit jumpier than the others, however, so I wanted to rule out injury.
In general, if a bird dies suddenly without apparent cause I tend to look for these three things:
1. Head trauma
2. Egg binding (if female)
3. Hepatic lipidosis or "fatty liver" (especially important in mature laying hens who are in a cage or confined setup)

Start off by examining the external features. I'm a big fan of looking at EVERYTHING, because it can tell you about the health of your flock in general.
Nothing was apparent on the head. No swellings, nasal or ocular discharge, so didn't look like a respiratory issue. Nares and mouth were clean and clear of blood.

The crop was empty. Depending on how easy it is to break down the specific diet, the crop should empty in 10-16 hours off feed. Since they don't eat in the dark, the empty crop told me that there likely wasn't an impaction in the upper GI. The keel was not prominent, so she hadn't been off feed for a long while.

There wasn't any blood or scrapes on the wings.

The vent/cloaca looked like it might have been prolapsed or occluded.
View attachment 2095527

I palpated the area around the vent and could feel an unusual crackling bulge above it.

Peeling the feathers off, I didn't note any trauma to the body.
View attachment 2095531

Peeling back the feathers on the neck revealed the empty crop (yellow fluid filled sac)
View attachment 2095536

The esophagus was clear, so choking wasn't likely.
View attachment 2095545

As a final rule out for head trauma, I peeled back the skin up to the level of the orbit/eye sockets
View attachment 2095537

There was blood accumulation on one side by the ear. Don't be fooled, though- it was the side of her head that was facing down when she passed, and there was no redness or inflammation in the tissues surrounding it. No head trauma here.
View attachment 2095540

Normally when I butcher a bird, I remove the spine and peel the organs out that way. I wanted to leave the reproductive tract intact, though, so this view is from the side where I've slit the connective tissue and peeled back the keel and breast to reveal organs underneath. The yellow balls are follicles, which become the yolk in eggs. The structure above them with the blue shiny tissue is the gizzard/ventriculus.
View attachment 2095565

Be sure to check the liver in all your necropsies! Hepatic lipidosis is super common in confined poultry and will require you to reconsider your feed. Birds with fatty liver can die at the drop of a dime from internal bleeding- even a friendly peck can kill birds at the advanced stages. Their liver will be enlarged, putty-colored, mottled, and super weak to the touch. If it was the cause of death, you'll see evidence of multiple bloody hemorrhages. The liver on this bird looks healthy, nice and dark. In this picture we are looking at it from the underside. (The dark tissue)
View attachment 2095575

Checked out the heart and air sacs after the liver. Nothing unusual there. A bit of blood had leaked out of the pericardial sac.
View attachment 2095604

Removed the fat to view the reproductive tract- Bingo!
The light, bubblegum pink tissue under the yellow follicles is the beginning of the repro tract. The large, darkly mottled bulge toward the tail end is supposed to be the same color, but is inflamed and bruised.
View attachment 2095613

Here's a close up. Not pretty. It is squishy and not hard like it should be with a calcified egg.
View attachment 2095615

Here it is pulled out so you can better view the ovary with follicles and the shell gland connecting to the cloaca. There is massive hemorrhage beneath where the shell gland sat.
View attachment 2095616

Here's our culprit: An egg lodged in the shell gland with no shell.
View attachment 2095620
View attachment 2095624

Here's the whole oviduct pulled out. 'In' stands for infundibulum, where the follicles enter. Normally it looks like a little cup and sits right underneath them. Fertilization occurs here.
'M' is for magnum- it's in this part of the oviduct where the albumin/egg white is made.
'Is' is the isthmus, which is narrower and where the egg membrane forms
'Sg' is the shell gland, where the egg is currently stuck. This is where the shell is laid around the egg. This is the last stop before it's laid.
View attachment 2095636

Prevention: Calcium, calcium, and more calcium. Be sure not to mix it in the feed and to only offer it free-choice because hypercalcemia is a whole 'nother beast. Check your feed's calcium, hopefully it is higher than 3%. Supplement periodically with vitamins and electrolytes, as deficiencies may weaken the force of uterine contractions.
Young hens are especially vulnerable. If you see any bird squatting, walking weirdly, or spending an unusual amount of time where they typically lay, act immediately. They are unlikely to make it more than 48 hours without intervention, less if the egg is stuck where it impacts the GI.

Thanks for reading! Hope it's helpful! Sorry this one's up a little late, I got distracted by my eggs hatching early

One of my hens seems to have stopped laying to molt like some of my others have, but her belly area feels like there’s a soft shelled egg there. I’m pretty sure she’s pooping and eating and seems quite lively, but the lump hasn’t gone away in three days now. They all get plenty of calcium, none of my other birds have had trouble laying eggs. I’m confused why she just won’t lay it soft-shelled or slap a shell on it. Should I epsom soak her, or anything else?