White Rock Suddenly Passed Away (Necropsy Pictures)

[Michael Propst]

I had 2-1/2 year old White Rock (Dottie). She has had some on and off reproductive issues over the past 1-1/2 years, several lash eggs, several thin or no shell eggs, and she has also laid normal. Monday evening when I put the girls up she appeared fine eating, drinking, and moving around with no problems. When I got home from work on Tuesday and open the door to their run to let them out into the yard she was on the upper roost bars in the run and I had to lift her down, she drank a little water but was very lethargic. I immediately brought her into the house into my chicken ER, a 3x4 dog crate, she did not eat or drink from that point and huddled in the corner of the crate. I checked on her up till about 8 then let her rest. She passed sometime in the night, and I found her dead Wednesday morning. I took her to my vet for a necropsy, and it resulted in something my vet said she has never seen a internal egg almost 4" in diameter (pictures attached). I did agree to have a histopathology, but it will take a couple weeks to get the results. Was wondering if anyone had ever seen anything like this and know possible causes

 

[Kathy Golla]

Hi Michael,
I am so sorry you lost your hen. Good job getting to the root of this.
This is a lash egg, caused by salpingitis. There can be some root causes of the salpingitis, perhaps the histiopathy will uncover a root cause. Sometimes a root cause can’t be determined.
Very very common in hatchery hens nowadays.
Hope you are doing ok.
https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/what-in-the-world-is-that-weird-thing-called-a-lash-egg/

 

[Michael Propst]

Hi Michael,
I am so sorry you lost your hen. Good job getting to the root of this.
This is a lash egg, caused by salpingitis. There can be some root causes of the salpingitis, perhaps the histiopathy will uncover a root cause. Sometimes a root cause can’t be determined.
Very very common in hatchery hens nowadays.
Hope you are doing ok.
https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/what-in-the-world-is-that-weird-thing-called-a-lash-egg/

Interesting that you reference a article from Cackle as this is the hatchery she came from. I am aware that this is a lash egg and prior to this she had produced 3 other lash eggs, but they were always small and passed through her. What is puzzling to me is the size of this one, it grew to almost 4 inches in diameter and almost 6 inches long.

 

[coach723]

Lash eggs can vary in size greatly. Some are very small, but they do sometimes become quite large. It's not uncommon to open a bird up and find the reproductive tract just filled with the material. If you do a search for lash egg images you will find some pictures of some quite large ones. Once that happens then they can become blocked and death will usually follow relatively quickly. When they are small the bird can sometimes pass them which will give them a bit of relief for a time, until more builds up. I'm very sorry for your loss. Once they start laying lash material the prognosis is usually poor, and some birds don't pass any at all and you don't know for sure until necropsy when you find them inside.

 

[Michael Propst]

Lash eggs can vary in size greatly. Some are very small, but they do sometimes become quite large. It's not uncommon to open a bird up and find the reproductive tract just filled with the material. If you do a search for lash egg images you will find some pictures of some quite large ones. Once that happens then they can become blocked and death will usually follow relatively quickly. When they are small the bird can sometimes pass them which will give them a bit of relief for a time, until more builds up. I'm very sorry for your loss. Once they start laying lash material the prognosis is usually poor, and some birds don't pass any at all and you don't know for sure until necropsy when you find them inside.

Thanks for that information. She has laid hash eggs before, actually 3 in the past 1-1/2 year. From some research it seems I am lucky to have had her for that long as it seem most pass within 6 months of laying their first hash egg. I just never realized they could grow that large, and she showed absolutely no signs of not feeling well till the day she passed. Previously she started acting lethargic early one and I was able to get her inside and treat her. But again thanks for sharing your knowledge.