What killed my hen? *****Graphic pictures*****

[Minniechickmama]

I had a Dark Cornish hen who has been laying nearly every day for the last 3-months or so. She has been happy and healthy though wearing saddle because the boys got a little rough on the feathers early on.
Yesterday I went out to do chores and she is standing like she is trying to lay an egg. She didn't move and was obviously under a lot of stress. I got chores done and checked her over more closely. She had blood on her vent and fluff, and there were a few drops of blood on the shavings. I looked over in the corner where the girls lay and there was a fart egg over there covered in blood to that was obviously hers. Upon examination, her vent was very bruised looking and she was in very sad shape. I took her out and soaked her bottom in some cool water (I know everyone says warm, but I know when I am sore like that, cold feels good too, plus I wanted to rinse away the blood and gunk to see better.) She enjoyed the water and just relaxed into it a bit. I then set her outside in the shade on a pile of straw and put water by her. She sat there for the time I took to finish all my chores. I had errands to run and things to do away from the farm until last evening when I went out to check everyone and lock up. She made her way into the open door of the breeder house and was sitting in the feed area. I gave her water and feed and she had a nice clean pile of shavings to sit in. I hoped it was just an episode and she would feel better in the morning.
I thought about putting the rubber gloves and lubing things up and check her internally, but I didn't want to add insult to injury. She still looked pretty awful.
Then this morning, I checked in on her and she looked even worse and was straining. I could not feel an egg that was caught up in her, everything felt normal from a palpatation check. I had an appointment and would check back after. When I got back, she was dead. Poor girl, but glad this did not go on for days.
So, tonight I cut her open and this is what I found:
Obviously the yellow stuff is yolk, it was intact until I started removing some of the intestines to look around and it broke.

There were several other yolks in various stages of development inside there too, I think about 7 or 8.
This next picture makes me a bit suspicious, I don't quite know what to make of the tissue that is attached in the middle of what I assume are the intestines? There is a lot of this black stuff around on the insides. And yes, it smelled like old rotten eggs. My son wanted to puke just taking the pictures.

I assume this is just connective tissue/membrane?



A little help identifying what I see here? The whitish soft tissue, it is spongy but tubular. Is this part of the oviduct?


I can only guess this is part of the reproductive system too? Like 2 gassy "horns".

This last picture is the whitish tubular stuff that was attached to the vent. The other was also the inside of the vent, and as you can see there is a lot of blood there from whatever happened yesterday.


SO, can anyone help me figure out what happened to this girl? As you can see, she was quite healthy and meaty. I would have butchered her last night if I knew she was going to die today and at least have a good size bird to make a meal out of. And of course, this was the best carcass bird in the pen that I have been working on a start to a meat bird line with.
Curse you Murphy and ALL of your laws!

 

[Erica]

Hi Minniechickmama,
I'm sorry you lost your hen.

It's very hard to tell from the photos what might be wrong, but the off smell is perhaps a sign of internal infection.

I'm wondering if she had internal laying for a while? That would cause internal infection and the bad smell, but normally the organs get covered in yellowish stuff (not the bright yellow of yolks, but a dirtier yellow, which can be either slimy and thick or very thin and fluid). I'm not seeing clear signs of egg yolk peritonitis in there. A close shot of various organs (liver, lungs, ovary etc) might have make things easier to tell.

On the other hand the blood at the vent may be from straining (perhaps trying to lay a soft shelled egg?), so it's possible in straining to lay, she ruptured a blood vessel and bled out. I suppose the black stuff around the intestine area might be broken down blood from internal bleeding from inside the vent area leaking into the whole body cavity. That's a wild guess and I'm no expert.

Yes, the spongy pale tube is oviduct. The organ connecting that long tube of intestine is the pancreas. The two inflated grey tubes are the ceca, two blind pouches that come off the intestine; they look normal.

Sorry I can't help more,
Erica

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thanks, Erica.
I knew it wasn't internal laying. I have had those and always open them up to check. That wasn't the case here, she has been laying daily for weeks. Just one day she was looking bad and the bloody vent. The blood was actually contained to the vent, it was not external of the lining inside.
I may never find out, but I thought that someone might see something to tell me.
Thanks again.