HELP. Two days, 2 dead chickens (waning graphic photos)

[Ginmary]

A tech from the NJ state animal lab came to my house today and picked up Millie’s body. She also swabbed all of the rest of the chickens to rule out any kind of avian flu (she said all the rest show no symptoms so she doubts that as a cause. I should get the results tomorrow.

 

[FrostRanger]

Do let us know what they say, I'm curious to know as that one is a headscratcher

 

[Auntiejessi3]

she would have to have been dead for days for bloat to kick in like that probably 4-5 I don't think that was what happened

That's why I asked, and please don't micromanage conversations, it makes them quite confusing

 

[Ginmary]

I will definitely let you know what they find. I am so afraid to open the coop tomorrow morn.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Everyone was acting fine. Opened up the coop on the morning and found my silkie, Daisey, dead. She was on her breast side legs and head stretched out. Her breast area was open but didn’t seem to be eaten. Then, this morning, I open the coop to find my Americans, Millie, dead. She was also stretched out but is in otherwise perfect condition, no sign of any injury.
Any thoughts? Maybe I’ll bring her for a necropsy.

Both happened overnight. I always check them on the roost when I close the coop door. The I found them dead in the morning.

So sorry about Daisey and Millie.

Please do let us know what you find out.

I'm not sure what happened there for Daisey's body cavity to be opened. I do note large maggots and slime already in the photos. Maggots can hatch/emerge in less than 24hrs in warm conditions, but usually they are still quite small. I wonder if she had FlyStrike and the maggots invaded the cavity. FlyStrike can often go undetected for several days and maggots can enter just a tiny scrape or wound.
Just my thoughts, but I hope you get more info about what's going on.

 

[Ginmary]

I am waiting for the report to show online so I can cut and paste. By phone they said Millie had ado carcinoma in different spots. They said it’s usually caused by Mereks or Lucosis.(sp) she said she was old for a hen (6 yrs) and I could expect others of that age to start dying. Oddly, she said their lab (NJ state) doesn’t do Merek testing. She also mentioned that they saw some round worms in her system. I see no sign of any worms in the others poop.

I have 4 month old chicks that I was going to start introducing out next week. That’s on hold until I get this figured out.

 

[FrostRanger]

That's weird they don't test for meraks. In any case, it might be a good idea to worm everyone else with safeguard since they probably have worms too

 

[Susan Skylark]

But why was your chicken ripped open? Animals only rarely explode from bloat post Morten and as previously stated it takes days. While cancer can kill I’ve never heard of it opening up a carcass. Any chance you’ve got a weasel or something that got to your bird (dead or alive)? Very strange!

 

[FrostRanger]

My guess is something or another did it postmortem. Not sure what exactly though

 

[Eggcessive]

I think adenocarcinoma, a common type of cancer, can happen in any chicken. It is common in the oviduct. Mareks and leukosis cause lymphomas I believe, another type of cancer. But I am not a vet. Not all states do test or even necropsies. A neighboring state NY would do testing at Cornell. There is a lab in Texas Zoologix and at Univ of GA where they do pcr testing for Mareks. With those 2, they can send materials to collect a blood sample from trimming a toenail, that is sent back in. With shipping and return shipping, materials, and testing, it is about $100.