Susan Skylark
Songster
Sorry, no pics, butcher day is a bit messy for pictures mid-mess! I had three quail to cull, two aggressive males and a 4 month old hen that has been daily laying blue eggs (not celadon) with a brittle chalky shell that indent with the least touch. It took me a bit to localize the bird but finally located the offender, of course it is a nice big gentle bird that is a good layer! Culling is the only option between the mess of squashed eggs, no productivity, and the risk of egg peritonitis, sorry I’m not going to maintain her and a friend on minimal light for several years! The two males were unexciting, but the hen’s internal anatomy was odd, she had several little yolks all set to go (already laid bad egg today) but the odd thing was the toothpaste. No, it wasn’t really toothpaste, rather it looked like someone had blasted a tube of toothpaste all over her internal organs. It wasn’t just some gunk you could wipe off and it was clinging in little clumps all over her organs, and yes it is mint green! She has some sort of infiltrate in her lymph tissue, but I’ve never seen anything of the sort that color but then I haven’t Necropsied many laying birds whose eggs are the same hue either. It could be an aberrant form of lymphoma or similar cancer or an issue with her calcium metabolism or even an odd developmental defect like misplaced shell producing cells (she’s secreting blue calcium into the lymph tissue instead of around an egg?). Really interesting but totally pointless to send in for a pathologist’s opinion as it seems an issue with this bird alone. And even if she does have mareks or a similar contagious cancer it isn’t like it will change prognosis for my other birds. One time I sent some dead bunnies in and the lab called to ask me what I thought it was, I didn’t know which is why I sent it in! Never a dull moment!
