Necropsy Pictures - Another Case of a Cystic Oviduct?

[jlwquilter]

Lost another hen a few days ago. That makes 3 from the same group of 5 total I bought in March. They are also the oldest (but not old) hens I have. I posted pics of the necropsy on Petunia in early July. She had a sack of fluid in the abdomen. Penny died not 2 weeks ago from what seemed to be internal laying as she clearly had egg leaking from her vent. She was fine the day before and then she had the egg issue and died within a few hours. It was a crazy day and we simply didn’t have time to do a necropsy.

With Lily, who died a few days ago, we were able to do a necropsy. Honestly her death was very hard on both me and my husband (she was a particular favorite) and neither of us wanted to do the necropsy but we also felt it was the best thing to do. So we sucked it up and did it. Sigh.

We’re still very new at this so appreciate any info anyone can give us based on the pictures and background info.

Basically Lily had a HUGE sac of fluid in her abdomen. Her lungs were also in bad shape - more on that when I post that pic. Based on what was said in Petunia’s necropsy thread I’m thinking Lily also had persistent right cystic oviduct issue. It seems that this can be a side effect/result of having infectious bronchitis (IB). We did have a bad case of respiratory illness in May. Also 2 weeks ago some of the the hens did start sneezing and coughing a bit. I treated with denegard but should have treated earlier as a preventative and faster when the sneezing started. Things got better after the denagard but a few days ago I heard some sneezes and coughs and the leghorns had dirty nares so they all just got tylan treatments. While Lily wasn’t one of the ones sneezing or coughing and didn’t have dirty nares, she was coming off being broody (she went broody a lot) and was perhaps in a weakened state. She was fine and then boom the next day she had separated herself, wouldn’t eat and drank little, and within 48 hours she died.

Pictures next.

 

[jlwquilter]

Opening her up

Leakage from her vent. Looks like egg but she didn’t have any developed eggs as she had just finished being broody. This status will be clearer in following pics.

She had some fat here and there but nothing crazy.

 

[jlwquilter]

More pics of initial opening up

 

[jlwquilter]

Are these tumors? They were very hard. I don’t recall seeing them in Petunia’s necropsy

 

[jlwquilter]

Heart which looked normal

Gizzard. Empty as she hadn’t eaten in a few days. Full of grit as to be expectEd.

 

[jlwquilter]

Ovum. Not any really developed which is consistent with her coming off broody within the last few days.

See that white spot toward the top center... tumor? also glops of yellow here and there....infection/pus?

 

[jlwquilter]

Here’s the big sac of fluid. Huge.

Once again, like with Petunia, we should have opened it up but it was just too gross to think of that fluid going everywhere. You can see that the fluid is either clear or amber in color. It was full and firm but pliable.

 

[jlwquilter]

More internal pictures

I can’t remember what we thought of the 3 lumps in a line in the center of the picture...?

 

[jlwquilter]

These are her lungs. In really bad shape. supposed to be a bright bubble gum pink.

Lily did have some gurgled breathing on the 2nd morning. I thought she may have aspirated some of her liquid vomit. Which makes me realise I forgot to put this in the first post background info.

When we health checked Lily right after I found her separated her crop was like a water balloon. As my husband felt it for any obstruction Lily vomited liquid. Quite a bit. She did it a few times under gentle massage. Crop reduced in size and no obstruction felt. That’s when she went into hospital. Skipping to the next morning my husband massaged again as the crop was water balloony again and more liquid came out but not as much as before. I think it was water she drank herself and mineral oil we had given her to help with any blockage. A little while later when checking on her again she was gurgling. I thought perhaps she had aspirated a bit of the liquid vomit. That certainly may have happened but the condition of her lungs 24 hours later during necropsy makes me wonder if she had lung issues prior...?

 

[jlwquilter]

Upper chest and neck area. Nothing looked wrong here and no blockage was found. Her crop was empty.

Beak/mouth. Nothing abnormal that we noticed.

That’s the pictures. I have more but they are duplicates or slightly different angles. If anything needs a clearer picture I may have it and can post it.