1st chicken death. 1st necropsy. Egg yolk peritonitis, salpingitis or both? Warning: graphic images

[mvdct]

Hi BYC,

So, our first chicken died yesterday. I've posted about her before. I won't repeat the detail here - as its all in the first post in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/month-long-health-poop-concerns-in-chicken.1199708/ . However, in short: 6 weeks without laying. Health improving and declining over that time. Increasingly liquidy poop. Yesterday rapid deterioration.

We wanted to see if we could work out what it was that killed her so performed a necropsy. The main findings.
1. A build up of a layer of solid yellow fat around the abdomen and internal organs.
2. Something, maybe a "lash egg" (?) stuck inside her oviduct (?).

Attached some photos (below in reverse order).
01 abdomen - starting to show the yellow fat
02 the abdomen opened showing the extent of the yellow fat
03 the stuck egg (with arrow)
04 the egg released
05 the egg sliced in two.

So, what do you think? Was it egg yolk peritonitis, salpingitis or both (Can one cause the other)? Oddly, up until a couple of hours before she died, she never walked like a penguin, nor with tail noticeably lowered.

Thoughts, as always, gratefully received. And sincere thanks for all your help and kind words during her illness.

 

[ronott1]

Hi BYC,

So, our first chicken died yesterday. I've posted about her before. I won't repeat the detail here - as its all in the first post in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/month-long-health-poop-concerns-in-chicken.1199708/ . However, in short: 6 weeks without laying. Health improving and declining over that time. Increasingly liquidy poop. Yesterday rapid deterioration.

We wanted to see if we could work out what it was that killed her so performed a necropsy. The main findings.
1. A build up of a layer of solid yellow fat around the abdomen and internal organs.
2. Something, maybe a "lash egg" (?) stuck inside her oviduct (?).

Attached some photos (below in reverse order).
01 abdomen - starting to show the yellow fat
02 the abdomen opened showing the extent of the yellow fat
03 the stuck egg (with arrow)
04 the egg released
05 the egg sliced in two.

So, what do you think? Was it egg yolk peritonitis, salpingitis or both (Can one cause the other)? Oddly, up until a couple of hours before she died, she never walked like a penguin, nor with tail noticeably lowered.

Thoughts, as always, gratefully received. And sincere thanks for all your help and kind words during her illness.

View attachment 1152491 View attachment 1152492 View attachment 1152493 View attachment 1152494 View attachment 1152495

The fat is an indication of either not laying many eggs or fatty liver disease--How was the liver?

 

[mvdct]

The fat is an indication of either not laying many eggs or fatty liver disease--How was the liver?

Thanks for your reply @ronott1

You have to bear in mind that this was our first necropsy. That said, the liver looked pretty normal in terms of colour and texture. It was one of the few organs not covered in yellow fat and as it looked vaguely like it should in the pictures we'd seen online, we moved on (perhaps an error on our part).

 

[ronott1]

Thanks for your reply @ronott1

You have to bear in mind that this was our first necropsy. That said, the liver looked pretty normal in terms of colour and texture. It was one of the few organs not covered in yellow fat and as it looked vaguely like it should in the pictures we'd seen online, we moved on (perhaps an error on our part).

Great!

Did you see any tumors? I don't think I do. If not, then the stuck egg is the likely culprit

 

[Eggcessive]

There is evidence of salpingitis with the large cheesy egg like mass (lash egg.) She was an internal layer. Egg yolk peritonitis can be a part of these, if there is bacterial infection in the open abdomen. I am not an expert on necropsies, so hopefully others with more experience will chime in. You may want to view Speckledhen's recent video on internal layers.

 

[coach723]

That definitely looks like salpingitis and a lash egg. There is not much you can do in these cases, and often you don't find out until necropsy, as you did. Sometimes they will pass lash eggs so you have evidence of something going on, sometimes they just accumulate inside the bird. They hide the symptoms very well until the infection is well advanced and at that point it usually does not respond to treatment. The lash 'egg' is actually an accumulation of pus, sometimes with egg matter in it, from the body trying to encapsulate the infection. I've never had one recover from it, just been able to buy them some time. I'm very sorry for your loss, but good on you for doing the necropsy. As hard as it can be to do on a loved pet, it provides very useful info and peace of mind.
Here is a link to an article on salpingitis and the first picture looks very much like your lash egg. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/12/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard.html

 

[ronott1]

both of the above!
That is your answer. A lab could verify the bacteria but you really do not need to do that

 

[mvdct]

Thank you all. Really helpful.

@coach723, you're right. Its not easy doing a necropsy - but actually it kinda helped. Trying to get to the bottom of what the problem was. Educational and useful. And yes, our egg certainly looks like a lash egg from the link you sent.

@Eggcessive, thanks for suggesting Speckledhen's recent video on internal layers. Sorry for asking. Where would I find it?

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is the video:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...e-video-graphic-photos.1201052/#post-19020612

 

[mvdct]

Here is the video:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...e-video-graphic-photos.1201052/#post-19020612

Thank you @Eggcessive.

And thank you @speckledhen. Great video.