Weak Dominique!

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry. Thank you in advance for sharing the necropsy photos.

 

[Naz223]

With my limited knowledge of poultry anatomy, it was a good learning experience. She had a large amount of free fluid in her abdomen. Her liver was in bad shape, she had a large cyst near her vent. I’m going to send part of her liver to our lab for biopsy. Her gizzard was full of material, grass and seed mostly. She hadn’t eaten much for several days, so I don’t know how normal that is. Her instestinal tract seems enlarged or thickened to me, but maybe that’s normal. I definitely made the right decision in euthanazing her. She went peacefully in my arms. She was such a special hen. I’m really sad she has to go so soon.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I'm pleased the necropsy gave you some peace of mind or confirmation regarding the decision to euthanize. I find it a comfort when you find things seriously wrong inside like this and know that there was never any hope.

I don't have any experience with cysts but like you I would guess that it is an ovarian cyst.
It is hard to make out the form of the "chunks" in the second photo with them being on a reflective surface. Were they clear gel or is there cooked egg type material in them surrounded by gel. I would guess it may be a burst ovarian cyst or possibly a burst yolk that had been laid internally. Normally they get flattened into semi solid discs in the abdominal cavity when they are laid internally, but this is clearly different.
The nodules in the liver and elsewhere will be some form of cancer. That liver really is in a shocking state, poor girl. The fluid may be from the liver or a burst ovarian cyst.
Are you sure the lumpy tract circled in blue in the fifth photo is her intestines and not her oviduct. That looks like Salpingitis and it would have been interesting to cut it open and see the contents to confirm that it was the ovary and not the gut or vice versa.

Where did this material come from?

Gizzard contents look reasonably normal but quite a lot of fibrous material and quite a lot of corn by the look of it..... together with the amount of fat in the abdomen, I would suggest you cut that out of your flock's diet. Not saying it is the issue here but it hay have contributed to problems. I appreciate you were probably trying to tempt her to eat anything in the last few days so may not be representative, but worth reassessing what you feed your remaining girls and maybe reduce or cut corn and scratch from the diet altogether.

The ripe yolk attached to the ovary does not look overly healthy.

I know this is the first time doing a necropsy but it would have been helpful to have seen the digestive tract removed intact at least from the gizzard down, and laid out so that it could be more easily examined and parts identified.
I don't see a photo of the heart.... was it reasonably normal?

I would say your girl had a cancer. Perhaps Lymphoid Leukosis, but I am no expert.

@casportpony..... Kathy, if you have time, what is your take on this?

 

[Naz223]

This was my first poultry necropsy, I've done several with dogs and cats. I did learn quite a bit more about chicken anatomy, which is great.
We emptied approximately 1/2 liter of fluid from her abdomen. The "chunks" I show are both gelatinous and some bits that looked the old cooked egg.
The organ pictured above, I believe is the Duodenal Loop and/or pancreas, either way it doesn't look right to me, it looks thicker than I think it should. In the picture, I had already cut it open. It had what appeared to be cecum in it, and it was dense tissue. You can see it in some of the other pics, one I circled as part of the digestive tract.
The heart looked fine
The contents in the gizzard, was not corn, actually bird seed. I couldn't get her to eat much else in the last week. On a side note, I was hoping to find grass, because my husband won't listen to me when I say they can't eat too much grass! I will cut down on the scraps and switch them back to the corn free/soy free diet I used before. I was having a hard time getting it locally.
I thought about pulling out her intestinal and reproductive organs, but we didn't want to go too much further after we saw the liver in that state, because it was after 9pm and we were very tired. I had enough info.

 

[Naz223]

Histopathology results came back, Adenocarcinoma. Cancer. Most likely metastatic from the the reproductive tract, but could be only related to the liver. Either way, I feel validated in my decision to euthanize. She was incurable.

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks so much for the update. It is really useful for those of us who do our own necropsies to see others and then get to know the final diagnosis. I'm pleased it also brings vindication and some closure for you.