Should I bother with necropsy?

[Pouletmaman]

Our chicken passed sometime in the night, and she may have been dead for 12 hours in 44-50 degree temp before putting her in fridge. Was that too long?

Also, I know she had an infection, as I drained some of the ascites and it was dark. A few weeks ago she had black in the nostrils. I thought maybe it was from the DE that I had put a ton of in their nesting boxes with the wood chips. I cleaned out the nest boxes and it cleared up mostly. But then she got this big belly and now she's gone. She's always been an iffy chicken and not a good layer which is not so normal with a buff orphington. We got her as an adult so didn't know much about her history.

Should I bother with a necropsy? I don't want to pay more fees for the extra tests that the source of infection may require I suspect. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Causes of ascites are heart failure, cancer or fatty liver disease, and egg yolk peritonitis. If you don’t want to get a professional necropsy, which would tell you much more, you could alsways consider doing one yourself at home. Opening the abdomen, you could look for the yellow ascites fluid, and examine her liver color, and look at her intestines, oviduct, and other organs, plus look for any blood clots or evidence of lash material in her belly. I have learned a lot about why my hens have died over the years by doing a home necropsy.

 

[Pouletmaman]

Sorry for your loss. Causes of ascites are heart failure, cancer or fatty liver disease, and egg yolk peritonitis. If you don’t want to get a professional necropsy, which would tell you much more, you could alsways consider doing one yourself at home. Opening the abdomen, you could look for the yellow ascites fluid, and examine her liver color, and look at her intestines, oviduct, and other organs, plus look for any blood clots or evidence of lash material in her belly. I have learned a lot about why my hens have died over the years by doing a home necropsy.

Thank you. I saw the fluid though and it was really dark, like if you were to make tobacco tea and include both fresh tobacco and cigarette butts! started as a dark brown and as I got more the color overall was ash with a green tinge. It wasn't thick at all.

I was planning on sending her, I just didn't know if I should bother or not at this point. Where did you find your medical information to reference for your at-home exam?

 

[Sally PB]

If you DIY, take a lot of pictures and post them. A lot of knowledgeable people here will be able to give you some info on what was going on.

If you do, maybe start a new thread so that people know what it is?

It might be a good idea to add "Graphic" to the thread title to warn people about the pictures.

 

[Pouletmaman]

Thank you! I will send her off to lab. There’s no way I’m up to doing it myself this time.