What Killed Lorelei.. Layman's Necropsy(WARNING!!-GRAPHIC PICS BELOW)

[gumpsgirl]

I really don't know what to say, Cyn. This is interesting but so sad all at the same time. I guess I'll just send you some more hugs.

 

[Katy]

Those "casings" look kind of like hunks of fat.

 

[speckledhen]

The ones of what actually killed her are above, but this one shows more of her insides, with what I think are healthy organs, at least to my untrained eye. If someone see something to the contrary, let me know. She was in the refrigerator for two days till we could manage time to do this properly. Well, as well as two people who know nothing can do it.
Katy, they do look like fat, but I've seen this material in a hen who had a hysterectomy on the old BYC a long time ago. Looked just like that. I think Diana (dlunicorn) will want to see these pics. She'll remember Mandy's hen, I know.

 

[allen wranch]

Cyn,
I just got back from the state vet lab after having a Welsumner hen put down and necropsied. She was a little over a year old.

There were similar findings inside my hen. She did not have any sausages inside her abdominal cavity, but she had a mass the size of a baking potato in part of her oviduct, with a few other pieces in other areas of the oviduct.

The vet cut the big mass open and their was a yoke inside with layers of gunk circled around it. It looked like a sliced onion.

Anyway, Dr. Lanires said it was caused by an infection that traveled to her oviduct. She was not an internal layer, as all the infection was in her oviduct.

He said it could have been caused by any type of infection, but he suspected MG (CRD). He did a culture to find out exactly what it was and if it was anything I need to treat my others for. He also asked if I wanted an AI test, and I said yes.

I hate to butt into your post, but it sounds like my hen and Lorelei may have had a similar problem, and maybe others can learn from our experiences.

 

[dlhunicorn]

these type of things can be caused by yolks /ovum from internal/false layer condition, or alternately, bits of sloughed off tract material (usually from infection or irritation somewhere in the tract) both of which can (but doesnt always) be "treated" as an egg when in the reproductive tract ... they can build up and become septic or cause a blockage and on occasion they are passed out thru the vent just like an egg. Both conditions can be present at the same time.
They are not tumors.

ETA: here is the link to a summary of Mandys thread on her bird that had the "hysterectemy" ...the only treatment cure for this condition:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/PennysSurgery/PennysSurgery.html

 

[speckledhen]

Diana, I know that isn't technically a tumor, per se, I just used the term to mean a mass. You are correct about that.
Carla, I don't know for certain what caused Lorelei to build up this material. I do know that none of my birds have ever had any respiratory illness of any type, so I wouldnt think it was CRD. Please let us know what you find out about your hen-I'm sorry for what you're going through with her. What I'm thinking is that last summer, the heat stress coupled with the hard molt Lorelei experienced that caused her to expel parts of eggs several times may have kept something inside her that caused an infection that snowballed. She kept laying, but the infection just set up in her body and slowly killed her.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Carla, I don't know for certain what caused Lorelei to build up this material. I do know that none of my birds have ever had any respiratory illness of any type, so I wouldnt think it was CRD

I am thinking that vet is getting CRD/MG mixed up with Infectious Bronchitis which is known to be responsible for damaging the reproductive tract...
see here:
http://www.afn.org/~poultry/flkman3.htm
"....Infectious bronchitis (IB) can be a devastating disease to any poultry operation. It affects chickens of all ages, types, and breeds. The disease is caused by a coronavirus which is known to have a high mutation rate......
.......The IB virus infects many tissues in the body. Every portion of the reproductive tract can be affected. A decline in egg shell quality occurs when the uterus is directly affected. This decline is reflected as poor egg specific gravity caused by a decline in shell thickness, and misshapen eggs caused by degeneration and distortion of the shell gland cells. Pullets infected with IB virus early in life may suffer permanent damage to the oviduct, resulting in misshapen eggs being produced throughout their life. Also, impacted oviducts, ruptured ova, internal layers, and cystic right oviducts are often a result of early IB virus infection. ..... "​

 

[megshenhut]

Cyn, again so sorry for your loss. The results of your autopsy show what I also found in one of my RIR hens a couple years ago. It is sort of like all that stuff just gets gunked up inside of them and infection sets in and kills them. Sorry for the lack of proper medical terminology. Sorry to say I think it may happen to more birds than we would like to think. I do find it amazing that despite her weight loss, she still had small fat deposits inside.

 

[speckledhen]

She was amazing, that girl. She kept moving every day, all day long, sunup till roost time. It was like she knew if she stopped, she'd pass on, like a self winding watch that stops if you don't wear it. And that's exactly what happened. The day I made her rest in the house, she shut down and passed away. She really had no meat on her bones at all, poor thing. I can't believe she was still walking like she did.

 

[allen wranch]

Diana,
IB sounds possible and he did say it could be any number of illnesses besides MG.