I went to take some chicks to my sister yesterday and to possibly help her butcher 2 of her very old hens. 1 was an ISA brown that was about 5 years old. I looked at the 2 birds before deciding if we were going to butcher them or not. The ISA was outside under the raised coop gasping for breath. she had been laying regularly but soft shelled eggs up until a week and a half ago. When I picked her up her abdomin was very full, distended and round. she didn't seem to have a fever her comb and wattles were still a good red color. She came over immediately for treats with all the other chickens which we put out to catch her.
after we had killed and removed feathers it was obvious something was very wrong with her. Her abdomin was completely swelled out and some of her internal parts of her cloaca had come out her vent. i cut back the skin of the abdomin and there was a clear mass with red veins on it. I pierced it and clear fluid ran out completly draining the abdomin to a normal size. there was only a hole in this bag i did not exert any pressure. an egg yolk and several "bags" what looked like egg white in membrane but not yolk inside came out of the hole with the liquid.
inside I have butchered around 30 birds at this point and haven't come across this before. the intestines were completly white stiff and rubbery. the liver was brown and fell apart just by gently movement. the heart had small white spots in the red tissue. she was still producing normal looking yolks there didn't seem to be a blockage in her reproductive system. gizzard looked normal on the outside as did the gall bladder. lungs looked healthy. Eyes looked normal(while she was alive) I didn't look at anything else. I was too grossed out by the texture of the intestines.
the only other things I can think of that might be of note: the other hen we butchered approximately 3 years old an easter egger who hadn't been laying for over a year also had a brown liver and she did seem to have a blockage in her reproductive system. recently she has lost 2 chickens, 1 which was at the top of the pecking order who always dumped the water out, got itself wet in the winter and the next day the head feathers seemed to be slicked back possibly from being pecked at and the hen was walking in circles didnt seem to be able to control its movements (culled) and a few days later a langshan hen was found dead head and neck bruised and feathers missing (assuming pecked to death) I did a necropsy on the langshan and there were no tumors. the only thing I found off was there was a lot of mucous in the mouth.
...... She's worried about mareks but I think it might just be cancer from it being such an old chicken and the breed.????
im not sure if i can but ill try to upload a video of her breathing when i found her. eta: video file is too large.
after we had killed and removed feathers it was obvious something was very wrong with her. Her abdomin was completely swelled out and some of her internal parts of her cloaca had come out her vent. i cut back the skin of the abdomin and there was a clear mass with red veins on it. I pierced it and clear fluid ran out completly draining the abdomin to a normal size. there was only a hole in this bag i did not exert any pressure. an egg yolk and several "bags" what looked like egg white in membrane but not yolk inside came out of the hole with the liquid.
inside I have butchered around 30 birds at this point and haven't come across this before. the intestines were completly white stiff and rubbery. the liver was brown and fell apart just by gently movement. the heart had small white spots in the red tissue. she was still producing normal looking yolks there didn't seem to be a blockage in her reproductive system. gizzard looked normal on the outside as did the gall bladder. lungs looked healthy. Eyes looked normal(while she was alive) I didn't look at anything else. I was too grossed out by the texture of the intestines.
the only other things I can think of that might be of note: the other hen we butchered approximately 3 years old an easter egger who hadn't been laying for over a year also had a brown liver and she did seem to have a blockage in her reproductive system. recently she has lost 2 chickens, 1 which was at the top of the pecking order who always dumped the water out, got itself wet in the winter and the next day the head feathers seemed to be slicked back possibly from being pecked at and the hen was walking in circles didnt seem to be able to control its movements (culled) and a few days later a langshan hen was found dead head and neck bruised and feathers missing (assuming pecked to death) I did a necropsy on the langshan and there were no tumors. the only thing I found off was there was a lot of mucous in the mouth.
...... She's worried about mareks but I think it might just be cancer from it being such an old chicken and the breed.????
im not sure if i can but ill try to upload a video of her breathing when i found her. eta: video file is too large.
