Two post mortems (necropsies) in two days..... WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS

[Shadrach]

Thanks for sympathies. He stayed with her until I remove her body for PM and then he went exploring and found the banty pen in the back garden and muscled in with them. He and the lavender pekin cock bird in charge there have battled it out over a series of days and whilst he looks to have lost, he is keeping a watchful eye over the broody that is now hatching his dead partner's hatching eggs..... They both (he and the hen) seem to be pretty happy with this arrangement but I may remove the other male at some point because the bereaved one is by far my favourite.

I would be really interested in reading if he 'takes up' with one of his ex partners daughters should any hatch and how he reacts to any males that hatch as well, should you be able to find the time.

 

[rebrascora]

I would be really interested in reading if he 'takes up' with one of his ex partners daughters should any hatch and how he reacts to any males that hatch as well, should you be able to find the time.

Sadly the eggs being incubated were from my large fowl laying flock as I didn't need anymore banty "incubators", so there will unfortunately be no daughters or sons from her.

 

[casportpony]

Sadly the eggs being incubated were from my large fowl laying flock as I didn't need anymore banty "incubators", so there will unfortunately be no daughters or sons from her.

 

[rebrascora]

Regarding the heart, take a look at these heart pictures and tell us if that is what you saw.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peachick-necropsy-pictures-graphic.1000154/#post-15525825

Wow! That is interesting! Unfortunately I can't be sure. The clot did seem to be exposed far too easily when I removed the liver and extended into the chamber almost as if the blood vessel was weak and had flared where it entered the heart, so that there was no obvious delineation between where the heart started and the main blood vessel ended if that makes sense, but I don't think the clot was as exposed/external as those on your pea chick. I will see if other photos shed more light on it. I have not had time to read the whole thread and the conclusion as to the cause but it would be comforting to know that there may have been some congenital defect with my hen that caused her death rather than just the fatty liver.

 

[rebrascora]

Here we go.... you can see in this photo the heart with that clot removed, how there is a significant indentation where the clot had been..... you can also see how dark and friable the liver is and the blood vessels feeding it. NB The heart is flipped forward, so the clot would have been on the top side with the bird in a normal upright position. I have not paid enough attention to hearts in previous necropsies to be sure that this is an issue but it did strike me as odd and what lead me to think it was a possible heart attack/failure that killed her together with a very purple looking comb.

 

[rebrascora]

I do also have a photo of her heart cut open but I am not sure it is beneficial.... see for yourselves...

 

[Shadrach]

Sadly the eggs being incubated were from my large fowl laying flock as I didn't need anymore banty "incubators", so there will unfortunately be no daughters or sons from her.