What is this?

[maryellen]

My friends barred rock just died.. she cut her open . She is hatchery bird from tsc. She was around 3 years old. When she opened her up she had 5 eggs in her oviduct, and fatty stuff everywhere. Is this mareks?.
She was getting a soft shell egg lately but couldnt figure out who was laying it. She was fine yesterday and eating. She found some mucus in her throat a little bit.

[maryellen]

When she touched the heart it exploded

[boskelli1571]

Apr 14, 2019 12:37:40 GMT -5 maryellen said:

When she touched the heart it exploded

Hard to tell from the pics - the little nodules could be Mareks but they could be something else. If your friend wants definitive diagnosis she should send the bird for necropsy. The 1st picture has what appears to be micro hemorrhaging in the organ there, not sure what would cause that. As for the 'exploding heart' -....never heard of such a thing.

[maryellen]

She found casaport on byc had posted same pics and it was cancer. Im not sure if she is sending the bird out. The bumps she squeezed but didnt pop them to see what was inside

[seminolewind]

It does not look like Marek's "tumors" to me. I just had a conversation with someone about how many more diseases or ailments there are than the ones that are named. What are those black things in pic 1?

[dawg53]

I did some digging around and it appears it falls in line with what Karen stated, Marek's. ETA: Oops, not what Karen stated, my bad!
I'll see if I can find that link that had pics that I was looking at last night.

[dawg53]

Apr 15, 2019 10:39:56 GMT -5 seminolewind said:

It does not look like Marek's "tumors" to me. I just had a conversation with someone about how many more diseases or ailments there are than the ones that are named. What are those black things in pic 1?

Black things: Maybe bits and pieces of the exploded heart.

[maryellen]

The black things yes are from the heart. When she touched the heart to move it it basically exploded.

So its possible its mareks ? .

Her laying hens are in a seperate coop from her bantams. She did have a few laying hens from a breeder who she said thought they might have mareks as they had birds die for no reason but didnt send them out. That was a few years ago. The barred rock was a tsc chick

[maryellen]

So dawg yes to mareks or no to mareks

[maryellen]

Would all the fat she found inside the hen be part of mareks? I told her to send the hen out for necropsy as well yesterday

[dawg53]

I'm going to see if I can find that link I was looking at last night, with pics.

[dawg53]

They might be multiple lymphomatous lesions, also tumors in the ovaries according to this website. It also provides associated diseases that could produce the nodules. I didnt look through them. Lymphoid Leukosis might be worth a look also.
partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease<br>Just#/disease/Marek's_Disease

[maryellen]

Thank you Dawg!!

[seminolewind]

I think it's aspergillosis, a fungal infection. One of my chickens had it fill her heart as well, so I can see how the heart may have "weak walls" that break open easily. I learned from the lab doc at animal disease was that aspergillus does not just infect the lungs which is where it starts, it can infect all over the body. It's supposed to be a common death but chickens may appear to just die for no reason. That's what happened to mine and that's why I sent her for a necropsy-no symptoms except sitting around more.


Black things may be some hair follicles or maybe necrotic areas.