Trying to figure out what was wrong

[LaurenRitz]

Not precisely a meat bird question, but it does involve butchering. I know it doesn't fit under emergencies because the bird is already dead.

I had a Jersey Giant hen that has laid one egg or less per week for the last few months. I knew she had to go for other reasons. She would have been 2 years old this November.

She hurt her leg somehow, I thought it was broken, so I isolated her. It wasn't broken, but I still don't know what it was. Over time the leg became totally paralyzed. Perfectly alert, no signs of other problems.

Anyway, she wasn't getting any better so I decided to go ahead and butcher her. Opening her up was an adventure, in a sense.

Part of her system was full of air--I think it was the reproductive track, it didn't appear to be directly connected to the digestive track. The piece that was blown up like a balloon looked like a fat lima bean with veins radiating from the center. The uterus?

It was easily as large as my fist, and if it had been like that for any length of time it was probably causing her considerable discomfort and might be the cause of the paralysis.

Any idea what this might be? All her other organs looked perfectly normal.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm pretty sure the following Educators do their own necropsies and might be able to help you. You didn't happen to take pictures, did you? It would be really helpful if you did and could post them, they are not going to offend anybody.

@azygous
@coach723
@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Part of her system was full of air--I think it was the reproductive track, it didn't appear to be directly connected to the digestive track. The piece that was blown up like a balloon looked like a fat lima bean with veins radiating from the center. The uterus?

I'm sorry about your hen.

Did you happen to take any photos?

Air filled? Did you cut that open? Could it have been fluid?

Cystic ovary comes to mind, but that is usually fluid filled.

Air, could be subcutaneous emphysema from an air sac, this would be like air trapped under the skin, but you probably would have noticed some labored breathing.

Lima bean.
Uterus is the shell gland, it's more like a "tube".

Lima bean with veins.

I'm grasping....

Photos would help.

You may want to scroll through the video below. He labels the organs, so you may see something that looks like what you saw?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

No video attached, @Wyorp Rock....

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No video attached, @Wyorp Rock....

Thanks! Fixed it

 

[LaurenRitz]

I didn't realize I should have recorded it until my hands were all goopy, so unfortunately no pictures.

The closest I'm coming is the oviduct. The only thing I can see that has veins on the outside. At about 45 he says that the right oviduct often gets swollen and filled with fluid, so that might be it.

I didn't puncture it, since I wasn't sure what was inside. The veins were coming from where the "bean" would produce the sprout.

I'll see if I can get pictures tomorrow.

 

[Eggcessive]

I really am no help without seeing pictures. Was there any fluid present when you opened the abdomen? Yellow is ascites fluid, and if you see clear colorless fluid in a sack, that can be a cystic right oviduct. Usually the right oviduct shrinks away after hatch, leaving only the left oviduct to function. Finding something with “veins” coming out of it sounds like a tumor. The video posted above has a lot of pictures of organs. You also may be able to Google organs of a chicken to see what they look like normally.

 

[FunClucks]

That leg, on its own, sounds like either a symptom of Merek's disease or curled toe paralysis. Might or might not be what's happening here, but worth a look, when considering other symptoms as well.

 

[LaurenRitz]

It's definitely in the right position to be the shell gland. It's visibly part of the reproductive tract and not an add-on, as the tube comes out the other side and continues up. It appears to be attached directly to the cloaca, but you can see that the digestive track is a separate system.

(I still haven't punctured it, in case you want more pictures)

 

[LaurenRitz]

I really am no help without seeing pictures. Was there any fluid present when you opened the abdomen? Yellow is ascites fluid, and if you see clear colorless fluid in a sack, that can be a cystic right oviduct. Usually the right oviduct shrinks away after hatch, leaving only the left oviduct to function. Finding something with “veins” coming out of it sounds like a tumor. The video posted above has a lot of pictures of organs. You also may be able to Google organs of a chicken to see what they look like normally.

I've opened up a bird with ascites before, and no there was no fluid, yellow or otherwise.