This thread is for informational purposes. I have not dealt with a lot of chicken diseases, but this particular case I strongly believe is egg yolk peritonitis (EYP); however, if anyone has any other information I welcome it. I am here to learn and to share what I have learned. Thank you in advance.
I found my little Splash Ameraucana in the nest box one evening when I went to lock up the birds. It was about 70* that evening, yet she was panting heavily. When I reached in to remove her I noticed she was very hot and she was sitting in a pool of water (sweat). All of this was odd to me, but I also thought she was just broody so I proceeded to put her in the broody breaker and went back inside to finish supper. But, I kept worrying about her. After I finished supper I went back out to get her.
Ordinarily a broody would have already gotten up from her “flattened out” position, but Isabella was still laying right where I had put her. I picked her up and carried her inside. While walking inside, some yellow and white ‘stuff’ dripped from her vent. It looked like a mustard/mayo mixture. I don’t know why I always make comparisons to food. Appetizing, I know.
I sat down on the toilet seat with her in my lap and my chicken first aid kit on the counter. She was still breathing extremely hard and sweating profusely. I took out my old bulb thermometer (you know, the kind you have to shake down and the kind with the mercury that you aren’t supposed to touch and I used to play with) to take her temperature. The highest number printed on it was 106* and the mercury went as far as it could go — so her temp was at least 109+*.
My first thought was what could I give her to get that temp down. Her eyes were still open and she was holding her head up all while laying in my lap. She was laying still and I was bumfuzzled. I despise feeling helpless! And helpless I was! I had absolutely no idea what to do to help my little girl.
I began thinking what I was going to do with her during the nighttime hours. I placed a towel in my bathtub and placed her there. She was not able to “sit up” straight. She fell over to the side, but still was able to hold her head up and her eyes were open. I walked into the kitchen to wash a waterer to put in the tub with her. As far as I could tell she was not going to try to get out of the tub during the night.
As I was washing I heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom. I can’t really describe it other than they were one syllable sounds like “mwah, mwah, mwah.” I ran to see what was going on. My little Isabella was dying right then and there and there was nothing I could do.She was gone in less than a minute.
“Well” is all I could muster out. Never did I imagine this. I was in a kind of shock! It was already late so I wrapped her up and placed her in the refrigerator so I could do a necropsy on her in the morning.
Now I examine every bird I slaughter, mainly for learning purposes and simple curiosity. Never have I seen this, but then again the birds I’ve slaughtered have all been male. I would dare say the majority of internal problems are in the females. Isabella was the fourth hen that I’ve necropsied. All four had major internal problems — diseases, I suppose. The following pictures show what I found.
Even though Isabella seemed happy and healthy, she was extremely thin. I immediately noticed the darkness of her gut area.
Never had I seen the dark abdomen. The dried yellow and white stuff from her vent can be seen.
This next picture shows the insides after I pulled her skin back. The yellow showing here is fat, as best I can tell. This is what fat looked like in all the other birds I’ve opened. Another thing I noticed was the size of her vent. It appears very large.
I removed the breasts and the visceral membrane that holds the innards. The yellow in this picture is not fat. It is egg yolk. All of her organs and intestines were completely surrounded by this firm yolk. Perfectly encased.
With the outer shell of egg yolk peeled back, I could see her entire cavity was filled with a thickened, but not solid yolk.
Everything inside her was covered in egg yolk.
The odor was clearly the smell of egg yolk. Warm, thickened egg yolk.
She was still producing eggs at a steady rate. There were yolks of all different sizes in her. It’s unfortunate they weren’t being picked up by the oviduct. I did not pull the oviduct out and examine it other than noticing there was no egg in it. Funny thing is, Isabella was still laying occasionally, even though I cannot remember exactly when her last egg was.
If anyone has anything to add, please do so. Or, if I need to be corrected on anything, please do that as well.
The way I look at these type things is we might as well learn everything we can about why a bird died. If I, or anyone else, can learn something from Isabella, then her death was not in vain.
I found my little Splash Ameraucana in the nest box one evening when I went to lock up the birds. It was about 70* that evening, yet she was panting heavily. When I reached in to remove her I noticed she was very hot and she was sitting in a pool of water (sweat). All of this was odd to me, but I also thought she was just broody so I proceeded to put her in the broody breaker and went back inside to finish supper. But, I kept worrying about her. After I finished supper I went back out to get her.
Ordinarily a broody would have already gotten up from her “flattened out” position, but Isabella was still laying right where I had put her. I picked her up and carried her inside. While walking inside, some yellow and white ‘stuff’ dripped from her vent. It looked like a mustard/mayo mixture. I don’t know why I always make comparisons to food. Appetizing, I know.
I sat down on the toilet seat with her in my lap and my chicken first aid kit on the counter. She was still breathing extremely hard and sweating profusely. I took out my old bulb thermometer (you know, the kind you have to shake down and the kind with the mercury that you aren’t supposed to touch and I used to play with) to take her temperature. The highest number printed on it was 106* and the mercury went as far as it could go — so her temp was at least 109+*.
My first thought was what could I give her to get that temp down. Her eyes were still open and she was holding her head up all while laying in my lap. She was laying still and I was bumfuzzled. I despise feeling helpless! And helpless I was! I had absolutely no idea what to do to help my little girl.
I began thinking what I was going to do with her during the nighttime hours. I placed a towel in my bathtub and placed her there. She was not able to “sit up” straight. She fell over to the side, but still was able to hold her head up and her eyes were open. I walked into the kitchen to wash a waterer to put in the tub with her. As far as I could tell she was not going to try to get out of the tub during the night.
As I was washing I heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom. I can’t really describe it other than they were one syllable sounds like “mwah, mwah, mwah.” I ran to see what was going on. My little Isabella was dying right then and there and there was nothing I could do.She was gone in less than a minute.
“Well” is all I could muster out. Never did I imagine this. I was in a kind of shock! It was already late so I wrapped her up and placed her in the refrigerator so I could do a necropsy on her in the morning.
Now I examine every bird I slaughter, mainly for learning purposes and simple curiosity. Never have I seen this, but then again the birds I’ve slaughtered have all been male. I would dare say the majority of internal problems are in the females. Isabella was the fourth hen that I’ve necropsied. All four had major internal problems — diseases, I suppose. The following pictures show what I found.
Even though Isabella seemed happy and healthy, she was extremely thin. I immediately noticed the darkness of her gut area.
I removed the breasts and the visceral membrane that holds the innards. The yellow in this picture is not fat. It is egg yolk. All of her organs and intestines were completely surrounded by this firm yolk. Perfectly encased.
The way I look at these type things is we might as well learn everything we can about why a bird died. If I, or anyone else, can learn something from Isabella, then her death was not in vain.
