Rosemary's Necropsy Photos....WARNING! GRAPHIC!

[Laskaland]

Quote:
GREAT article. This is what struck me:

"What he found was startling. By adjusting photoperiod for a shorter day length, Siopes was able to eradicate tumors. When he put the turkeys whose tumors had completely disappeared back on longer days, the tumors returned"

Wow. I will be limiting light tonight! I had been extending the light for about 4 hours a night- so they were getting about 13 hours of light.

Christina

 

[halo]

Cyn, Im so sorry you lost her. And I really admire you taking the time and effort with the necropsy. What a mess....certainly not what a hen is supposed to go thru. Are there any pictures anywhere of what a healthy oviduct is supposed to look like? I think the point that hatchery birds are only supposed to lay for 2 years is an excellent point.

Im so sorry...

 

[megshenhut]

Cyn, so sorry to read that you lost yet another girl to that internal laying. It is so hard to lose them, especially when there is nothing you can do to attempt to help them.

 

[ozark hen]

I, too, have learned not to ever extend the lighting period artificially. I did last year, my first year with poultry but will never do that again.
Hopefully, Cynthia, this is the end of it all...these last few birds left from the original stock. Sorry, you had to lose them but it will get better for you!

 

[speckledhen]

After the situation with Ivy is resolved, I hope I never have to deal with this again. I do have the Brahmas from the same hatchery approaching two years old, then my banty Cochin, GLW and two SLWs are from 25-28 weeks old. I refuse to buy anymore chicks from there till I see if these others develop this laying issue. Miranda and Caroline both did stop to molt this year for several weeks, so maybe they wont develop these "tumors". I hope.
I dont personally have any pictures of healthy innards of a hen, but then, it's hard to get those since you dont open up one that isn't ill. It would help to see what a healthy one looks like, wouldn't it?

 

[BlueMoon]

Out of the 19 Golden Comets I bought from a production facility in March 2007, only two remain. They were about a year and half old when I got them. The overwhelming majority have died due to being internal layers.

Being these ladies were from an egg farm, and treated well, I would agree that being under lights, forcing the internal system to pump out eggs, must be a big factor.

I am so sorry about Rosemary.

 

[speckledhen]

I dont know if the artificial light I had on during their first winter had enough effect to cause this. They weren't bright lights, mainly over the waterers, but I did have them on enough to extend the day. Last year and this year, the heatlamp is only directly over the waterers hanging very low so they dont throw light into the room and they only come on at sunrise to defrost the waterer trays, in case they are icy.
High production birds is what people want from the hatcheries; they just want a hen to lay an egg every possible day she can. They breed out broodiness by culling for that trait, so hens dont even get a break for raising chicks. Mine even lay through most of their molts, at least the hatchery girls did. Remember, my BR Lexie was naked for months and months and still kept laying. She finally stopped for about two weeks to grow feathers in, then she was back to laying. So far, I dont think she's been affected by the stuff building up inside, thankfully.
Blue Moon, we've seen that gross tumor like thing all too often, haven't we? Sorry about your girls.

 

[BlueMoon]

It's just awful, because you see the symptoms and there's just nothing you can do about it.

 

[speckledhen]

Knowing what they're dying of doesn't make it easier to lose them, but at least we know, I guess. Our poor girls!

 

[ivan3]

Bluemoon, lord!

Just some reproductive tract stuff:

For those with fast connections and and no qualms with `graphic' then this is a complete necroscopy on a hen:

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/v...le-reproductive-tract-of-a-mature-hen-221261/

Male reproductive tract in PDF format (takes a while to load but good ref):

http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/ijmorphol/v25n4/art07.pdf