Respiratory related death- but no others with symptoms

[murphrandir]

Hello!

I had a hen who started exhibiting some gasping earlier this week. She has passed but I’m stumped as to what happened:

Three days ago, I noticed one of my broody Brahmas was having some issues breathing. She was gasping/craning her neck, with a very occasional (violent) sneeze. I took her into my garage in a crate, and began Tylan 50 injections (2 mL, once a day). Today would be day three, but I came out to find her dead on her back. She has a cracked toenail and her wings are in rough shape (bruised)- I’m assuming from the sneezing. Her symptoms never improved, and neither did her appetite. But I’m most puzzled by this in the back of her throat? She never had any discharge or bubbles or anything. It doesn’t “leak out” if I pick her up, so I’m not sure if it’s solid or just congealed. Not a single other bird in the flock has shown issues of this kind, although it has been miserably hot and humid here and most everyone is panting. My coops all have exhausts, it’s a covered run, the feed is changed every other day, as are the waterers (and if they’re dirty I dump them multiple times a day). I’ve been cleaning the poop boards every other day, so I really am hoping husbandry isn’t the problem here. I really had hoped I’d caught it early enough at this point I want to make sure everyone else is ok. I will watch them closely, but find it odd no one else has symptoms with as many broodies as I have.

 

[Eggcessive]

I’m sorry for your loss. Do you still have the body where you could keep it frozen, wrapped in 2 garbage bags, and get a necropsy Monday by your state vet lab? They could diagnose what was wrong with her. Here is a list of state vets to contact Monday am:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...L5h4Xt137GBu32pWJZSRUY5DYhQyVrd4ODmF-Ab8otocc

Was the yellow just on the surface of the back of the throat? Did it seem like a tumor or mucus? I am sorry for your loss.

 

[murphrandir]

I’m sorry for your loss. Do you still have the body where you could keep it frozen, wrapped in 2 garbage bags, and get a necropsy Monday by your state vet lab? They could diagnose what was wrong with her. Here is a list of state vets to contact Monday am:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...L5h4Xt137GBu32pWJZSRUY5DYhQyVrd4ODmF-Ab8otocc

Was the up yellow just on the surface of the back of the throat? Did it seem like a tumor or mucus? I am sorry for your loss.

We don’t have the funds to send her out, so I did a crude at home necropsy. The green stuff is definitely fluid, kind of soupy. I didn’t see any evidence of it in her lungs, but it was in the back of her mouth and throat. I could not express any from the lower portion of the trachea.

I don’t know to what extent I’m allowed to post such pictures on here, but the lungs seemed very vibrant red to me. The heart had a decent amount of fat on it. But I did not see any sort of nodules on any tissue that would lead me to believe this was something like aspergillosis or one of the other chronic issues.