Weirdo “thing” found in pullet necropsy... What is it?

chickenmomma16 · Dec 17, 2017

Short story, I let out all my chickens to free range for a bit and they were all accounted for but when I locked the run at their bed time, one of my 6mo old golden sex link was dead in the run without a feather out of place. So obviously I had to open her up. Curiosity always gets the best of me!

I didn’t notice anything abnormal about her the day before or the day I let them out. I’m usually pretty good about noticing anything off. So, I opened her up, and all looked normal except her ovaries. There was absolutely no egg, yolks, or a mixture of the 2 was found anywhere. Which right away was a red flag because the other 4 pullets have all started laying like crazy for weeks. I found this in her vent area. It was very dense and obviously was not supposed to be there. It looked like a massive plug.

Has anyone seen anything like this? What caused it? It didn’t look like enough to kill her but I guess it did.

WhiteWyan · Dec 17, 2017

It's a lash egg. Pus and dead cells. Probably an infection. Sorry to hear about your bird... Horrible.

coach723 · Dec 17, 2017

Yes, looks like a lash egg, likely caused by salpingitis. I'm sorry for your loss.
Most of the time when birds become symptomatic the infection has become too much for successful treatment and it sometimes happens as with yours that it isn't discovered until necropsy. This seems to be more common in hatchery birds that are bred to be prolific layers.
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/salpingitis
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/03/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by.html

Wyorp Rock · Dec 17, 2017

coach723 said: ↑

Yes, looks like a lash egg, likely caused by salpingitis. I'm sorry for your loss.
Most of the time when birds become symptomatic the infection has become too much for successful treatment and it sometimes happens as with yours that it isn't discovered until necropsy. This seems to be more common in hatchery birds that are bred to be prolific layers.
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/salpingitis
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/03/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by.html
Click to expand...

Agreed - looks like Salpingitis to me. @coach723 has given you some very good links to read.

@chickenmomma16 I'm sorry to hear about your hen but I'm glad you were able to open her up to find out the cause. The photo and your information will be helpful to others.
(can't help but smile at your title though - "weirdo thing")

Patinas · Dec 17, 2017

So sorry you lost your hen! I have no experience with lash eggs but I agree with everyone else that's what it looks like per the many pictures I've seen on here.

I just wanted to say good for you for being able to do a necropsy on her! I see many posts on here where a bird will die and the owner never figures out why it died. That would drive me crazy not knowing the why!

Eggcessive · Dec 17, 2017

It would be interesting to cut it open. There are many pictures of lash eggs if you Google lash egg images. Cancer in the reproductive tract is another common cause of death in hens. Good for you doing a necropsy. I have done a couple, and they are not for the faint of heart, but can be very helpful in identifying a cause of death. Sorry for your loss.

chickenmomma16 · Dec 17, 2017

Thanks everyone for your condolences.
Now that I read the articles and saw different pictures I had an old RIR hen pass one of those. It was years ago but much bigger and different shape. I forgot about it until now.

This lash egg was small enough that she should have passed it easily, it was only about as big as my thumb. Poor girl.

She didn’t go to waste either, my dog is on a raw diet and she was able to feed him.

ChickNanny13 · Dec 17, 2017

Sorry for your loss

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Weirdo “thing” found in pullet necropsy... What is it?

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