Water Belly symptoms

[azygous]

Oh, gee, I'm sorry. That's about right for a serious stuck egg to kill a hen, though. But it could be something else, too. Like internal laying. It will be obvious when you open her abdominal cavity if an egg issue caused this death.

 

[ZedikerStation]

Oh, gee, I'm sorry. That's about right for a serious stuck egg to kill a hen, though. But it could be something else, too. Like internal laying. It will be obvious when you open her abdominal cavity if an egg issue caused this death.

I'll let you know what I find. . Thank you again!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She didn't make it.
I'd estimate 48 hours from the time we discovered her struggling. I guess that is consistent with egg binding, but other things as well. I'll open her up in the morning and see if anything is obvious.

Sorry to hear that
Please do let us know what you find out.

 

[ZedikerStation]

All of her organs appeared to be in good shape.... (compared to necropsy images I've seen). I did not include pictures of them as it was too messy to handle and photograph. I did photograph what I believe to be an internal lay. This solid and somewhat flakey mass the size of a grapefruit was in her abdomen. It was in a very thin membrane. There was only a small amount of fluid in her abdomen with a small amount of cheesey yellow material. This mass was what was the visable lump in her belly.

Comments? Thoughts? How long would it take for a mass to get this large? I found no signs of a shell in it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

All of her organs appeared to be in good shape.... (compared to necropsy images I've seen). I did not include pictures of them as it was too messy to handle and photograph. I did photograph what I believe to be an internal lay. This solid and somewhat flakey mass the size of a grapefruit was in her abdomen. It was in a very thin membrane. There was only a small amount of fluid in her abdomen with a small amount of cheesey yellow material. This mass was what was the visable lump in her belly.

Comments? Thoughts? How long would it take for a mass to get this large? I found no signs of a shell in it.

Nice job on doing the necropsy. Thank you for the photos.
I'm not sure how long it takes for a mass to get that large. It could still be Salpingitis, just the lash material dropped into the abdomen and the body continued to add layers. Internal Laying is also a good possibility even if you didn't find a shell, with Internal laying it can be yolk/white that has dropped into the abdomen and was "wrapped up", but sometimes a whole egg can be found too. To be honest, they can look quite similar from what I've studied.

 

[aart]

Nice job on doing the necropsy. Thank you for the photos.

Ditto Dat!
Everyone with a swollen bellied bird should see these pics.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ditto Dat!
Everyone with a swollen bellied bird should see these pics.

Agreed.

 

[azygous]

That's also my take. I lean toward a massive accumulation of salpingitis pus. Internal laying produces easily recognizable eggs, hard boiled by the hen's body heat.

Salpingitis can go on for a year or more before it kills. I would expect the size of the mass has only a little to do with time interval and a lot to do with the hen's immune response to the bacteria by producing the lymphocytes that form the lash material.

 

[ZedikerStation]

There are so many symptoms that look like multiple things..... it is so hard to tell from looking from the outside. For instance, her having difficulty using her left leg was probably from this large mass pressing against a nerve. (Uneducated guess). We are happy that she is not suffering any longer.

 

[ZedikerStation]

That's also my take. I lean toward a massive accumulation of salpingitis pus. Internal laying produces easily recognizable eggs, hard boiled by the hen's body heat.

Salpingitis can go on for a year or more before it kills. I would expect the size of the mass has only a little to do with time interval and a lot to do with the hen's immune response to the bacteria by producing the lymphocytes that form the lash material.

I'm thinking I agree with this. The material peeled apart in layers, kind of like the small amounts we found. This might be why we haven't found any lash material for some time now. She was hiding it. Do you think it is possible for the lash material to drop into the abdomen and her NOT pass any more? Except for a small bright yellow area deep in the mass, that I thought may have been yoke, I found nothing that looked like egg.