Sick Hen -CULLED-Necropsy findings, Any more opinions

[buckeye lady]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.-Red sex Link, age unknown, Wt approx 4lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.-Posture like she roosting. Head tilted slightly to right.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.-None.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.-I think she may be an OLD hen?
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Layena, a small amt of scratch daily, Water with a little cider vinegar.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.-Runny green.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Isolated her, brought her in house and gave her 2 tsp gatorade orally.
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? If condition worsens plan is to cull.
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.NA
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use-Indoor coop with outdoor confibed Run, No heat. Plenty of room. Pine shavings for flooring over concrete floor. Hay in nest boxes. Coop kept clean and dry. Lives with 11 other Hens and all are well.



She's been gradually losing Wt over the last several weeks. I got her as an adult this Summer from a local hatchery. They said she was a pullet last year and she was a breeder that they were through with. They said she was a good layer. She's not- an egg maybe once a week. Basically-They dumped her on me and me as a newbie didn't know any better. She has stopped eating and drinking. No respiratory symptoms.

 

[Mrs MIA]

If she was a pullet last year, then she's only a year old.
I'm sure someone with more experience will come along soon, but the only thing I can add to the list of questions is a: has she been wormed recently, or are there signs of worms? and b: have you checked for mites/lice? Look for any pale bugs near her vent.

If she's not sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and doesn't have bloody poop, then she may be having problems internally with worms.

Are her eyes bright, comb red?

 

[buckeye lady]

Eyes are bright, Comb is red, but not as erect as usual. No bugs or skin lesions. Vent is pink and moist. The color of her legs and feet seem to be paler than usual. I have not wormed her.

 

[buckeye lady]

I need you "Chicken Masters" to reply.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sounds like you are doing what you can do and have been doing it right. Just bring her in and let her stay in a warm dark place.

Her pale legs and moist vent indicates that she is probably a good layer as more eggs = less pigment in skin/legs/beak. The green poo though is just a sign of her not eating for a few days and bile has built up. See if you can get her to eat anything. Best would maybe be boiled egg yolk as it is a nutritionally dense food. Loss of weight though may indicate that perhaps for some reason she had an overload of worms over the past few weeks and it has finally caught up with her.

Check for lice/mites and if you suspect that maybe worms have caused her to lose weight, perhaps take a fecal sample to the vet from the coop to see if the flock has them? It would also tell if there is too much cocci in the birds, another thing that could have attributed to loss of weight over time.

As for this one bird, I don't know if there is much more you can do other than try to get her to eat and keep her comfortable. If she doesn't make it, it would be a good learning expereince to open her up and take a look. There could be things wrong inside you can't see such as tumors or growths in the ovaries that can make her feel bad and can't really be cured.

If she really is a red sexlink... I don't think she was a breeder, but rather just a "spent" layer. Reason being, you can't use a sexlink to make more sexlinks, you have to use two distinct parent lines and use the offspring crosses to be called the sexlink.

Good luck!

 

[buckeye lady]

She's perking up a bit. She drank about an ounce of gatorade from a syringe. I offered her some grits and some scrambled eggs but she's not interested. I'll keep offering. Her posture is better and she's pecking at the sides of the container I have her in. (she's in a large rubbermaid tub with a chicken wire top) I'll check on her and offer more gatorade throughout the night. I'll get a fresh pooh from her and the coop in AM and take pooh to our Vet. Our vet doesn't see poultry, but I'm sure they could still examine some pooh. I plan to keep her in the house until she's well.

 

[buckeye lady]

She was getting worse. I had to make a decision. I did not feel that even if she got better That I could return her to the flock with confidence. My job as Flock Mistress is to protect the integrity of the flock. My DH did the deed for me.
I did a home Necropsy. I used the link on the BYC disease page.
I am a Novice Flock Mistress, but a seasoned RN. This was my first Necropsy experience.
These were my findings-
Feathers and skin intact, No lesions or parasites. Feathers and skin a bit dry.
Mouth was clean-no lesions,.
Sinuses-clear, Trachea-no inflammation, no obstruction, small amt of clear mucous.
Esophagus-Normal.
Crop-empty. Normal
Stomach organ-seemed large to me-was abouy 6 inches in length and 2 inches thick, Lumpy and fatlike on exterior, Empty interior- No lesions. Gizzard was about the size of a black walnut and hard as a rock contents looked like moist grass clippings and small bits of grit.
Intestines=with small amt of green "stool" inside. No worms or evidence of parasites.
Ovaries- 1 pink and appeared dormant other lookes like a pink berry with small "eggs in various stages- Ovaducts empty.
Heart and lungs/air sacs were normal in appearance.
Liver was very soft (tore very easily) and had a few white spots. Liver size was normal.
Galbladder, kidneys and pancreas appeared normal.
There was a large amt of cloudy yellow fluid in the abdominal cavity-about 6 - 8 ozs. Slightly malodorous.
MY OPINION IS ASCITES R/T LIVER DISEASE.
I would really appreciate input from some experienced Chicken Masters/Mistress'

 

[speckledhen]

The cloudy yellow fluid could be egg or infection mixed with yolk. I've opened four of mine and in one, found loose yolk. The others had huge amounts of "cooked" egg material/infection in the oviduct. None of the livers of my girls were anything but a beautiful, perfect color, no lesions. They died from reproductive issues/internal laying. Since you didnt find that in her oviduct, it's possible that she had two issues and that one had just begun. Being a nurse, you are better equipped to know what you're seeing than I am, at least with the general organ health, though to my eyes, all the organs were fine in my hens, except the reproductive tract.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I'm so sorry about your hen. It does sound like she was sick... that much fluid inside was not a good thing.
My condolences...

 

[buckeye lady]

I would really like to get some more input here.
Thanks