Water Baloon Chicken; WARNING GRAPHIC AUTOPSY PHOTOS!!!!!

[maryhysong]

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC AUTOPSY PHOTOS!
IF CHICKEN GUTS ARE GOING TO BOTHER YOU PLEASE CLOSE THIS PAGE NOW!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!




With that said, I am doing this to help others in case they see a similar problem. A few days ago one of my EE girls, about 7-8 months old was looking a little poochy between her legs and waddling, like she was just going to lay an egg any second. I have been waiting for a couple of late bloomers to get started and she was one of them. So I figured she would lay in the run and didn't think anything of it.

Today when I got home from work she was down and not looking so good. Her entire abdomen was swollen and distended and it looked like maybe her vent was prolapsing; my first thought was she was egg bound so I took her in and put on a hot compress and poked around a bit. She was VERY heavy when I picked her up, probably double or more her normal weight. I thought that was very strange; also in some prodding and even a finger into the vent, I could not feel anything that felt like an egg, just big and squishy.

She was looking very miserable and since there was no sign of an egg where I could do anything about it, I decided to cull her. Another note; she was extremely covered with feather mites. Now I knew since it warmed up, that the girls had some, but the other birds I'd checked recently had just a few bugs. This girl was totally covered with them. (I just dusted the whole run down about 10 days ago; life has been really crazy for me lately and that was all I had time to do then). One more notable thing; when I went to wring her neck, with very little force, her head popped totally off the spine. Usually that only happens when I am culling a really old hen.

So now the findings:
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC AUTOPSY PHOTOS!
IF CHICKEN GUTS ARE GOING TO BOTHER YOU PLEASE CLOSE THIS PAGE NOW!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
GRAPHIC AUTOPSY PHOTOS BEGIN HERE!!!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!







This is what her vent looked like.


As I began to open up her abdomen, I could see something strange was going on.


water began gushing out everywhere

\

It was like she had a giant water balloon in her belly.


you can see it was a clear membrane, with some veins in it. It filled the entire body cavity.


I think she must have had two quarts or more of liquid in her, which accounts for her being so much heavier than she should have been.


the huge sack, partly empty of liquid


ovaries with developed eggs. However, there were NO eggs with shells forming.


At first I thought maybe this water balloon was a bladder, then remembered, I don't think chickens really have bladders like other animals. I probed around some more, it looked like that bunch of eggs and the bag was attached at the same spot in the back, so I began thinking maybe it's the egg tube, where the eggs get their whites and their shells. Maybe all that liquid was backed up egg white?

the bag was attached to the vent, right next to the intestine. On a hunch I tried to insert my finger from the vent into this bag. I could not do it; there was no opening at all. I was able to easily insert my finger into the intestine from the vent, but there was no other opening.

conclusion; congenital defect where the egg chute had no opening into the vent; possibly other defects in the reproductive tract, causing the whole system to fill with liquid which had no way to get out.

Has anyone else seen anything like this before? Just wondered if my conclusions are correct?

 

[199787]

Interested to see any replies, that is really strange stuff. My gut instinct would say congenital, but I have no real clue.

Giving this a bump.

Lisa

 

[salt and pepper]

Wow.... very interesting.. I might have been a defect. I know that some pigs aren't born with a vent, so the go to the restroom through their reproductive tract. Maybe it was something like that, except there was no way for that stuff to get out....

 

[Michael Apple]

I think it could be Ascites. Take a look at this:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...s_of_poultry/ascites_syndrome_in_poultry.html

 

[maryhysong]

I think it could be Ascites. Take a look at this:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...s_of_poultry/ascites_syndrome_in_poultry.html

That is a possibility. i was so fascinated by it I didn't go on and pull out the heart or liver. There was a small amount of yellow clumps around and on the gizzard, but none in or on the sack itself. Also, this wasn't a broiler, this was an easter egger pullet, on 17% layer mash, 7-8 months old, so does not seem to fit the common profile they give for acites. I wish they would have shown more pictures. Also this was not in the tissues of the abdomen itself, but in the reproductive tract, which seemed to not have any opening into the vent.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Huh! That was very interesting, thanks for posting. I would think the cyst was a congenital malformation, not anything you could have prevented.

 

[bentley-tude]

Could this be water belly? I only just learned about it myself, and was looking for more info when I saw this post pop up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/68731/laying-hens-with-water-belly-or-ascites#post_723031