Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

OK here is what things look like, skinned. That blister thing was just a lump of fat under the skin. But as it was growing it was thinning the skin over top of it, I fear it may have split eventually. Abdomen cut open, lots of yellow fat. No fluid at all, so apparently not ascites. I'm pretty sure that liver is the wrong colour. It was pale and yellowish. Gall bladder looked OK. Here are the guts pulled out. A couple of egg yolks, no evidence of internal laying. The heart looks OK but I'm not sure about those other organs. So my assessment is, to me it looks like fatty liver. I have no idea how much fat is normal for a Buckeye hen about 15 months old, but they do get free choice layer feed at 17%, some scratch, and free range. This hen was broody, and hardly ate for the last couple of weeks.

What do you think? Do you agree with the diagnosis? Do you see anything else that looks odd? I mangled the liver and organs a bit pulling them out (gutting newbie. Note to self- next time remove head). Any advice for keeping my hens trimmer? Is there a genetic predisposition to this problem?

I don't know how this ended up here, but this is how fat she was when I cut the abdominal cavity open.

I am sure you are looking for a more technical diagnoses, but all I see is an obese hen.
I wonder sometime, hens on free range, free access to layer tend to regulate themselves pretty well, at least the Wyandottes do,
But the difference in energy needs between winter i.e. laying and keeping warm... and summer, when broody might be just sitting around and not laying, the fat builds up pretty fast.
Fatty liver would be just a result of too much fat everywhere else in the body.
I think I run a pretty "lean" operation, but anytime a hen is processed, there is inevitably way too much fat.

Thanks, in a way that's good, it's fixable. So your hen's livers are that funny colour too? When I buy chicken liver for my dogs, it's much browner.

Like eggs different feed different colors . Luck

Robbie wrote:QR_BBPOST Thanks, in a way that's good, it's fixable. So your hen's livers are that funny colour too? When I buy chicken liver for my dogs, it's much browner.

My chickens liver is browner too, that light color is definitely "fatty" and would probably make lovely "Foie gras" if it was on a duck.

How do her kidneys look? If you only have one hen overweight like this, I would suspect a metabolic disorder or hypothyroidism, which definitely can be inherited. If more than one are puffy in the behind, I would suspect too many carbohydrates or an iodine deficiency.
You're right, the liver isn't supposed to be a tan colour. More like port wine lol. By culling her, you prevented a slow death from starvation since she would not be able to process nutrients properly despite her enormous fat reserves. Curious to know if her kidneys are pale as well.

Thanks, Only one hen was fat like this. I squeezed all the other hen's abdomens, they defnitely seem to be much smaller and not squishy. I'd have to exhume her to check the kidneys, if I can do it tonight I will. I didn't think to look at those at the time.

OC foie gras...........

My bet actually is liver failure.....fatty liver can progress to liver failure where the bilirubin builds up into the liver and turns it yellowish. The liver is usually dark reddish brown from all the blood in it. The bilirubin causes blocking of the blood flow through the hepatocyte plates and the blood cannot penetrate the liver. And bilirubin is toxic to cells too...so overload in the liver results in liver failure. The result is an increasing load of metabolites in the blood. If this is the case you will see either increased kidney size from trying to filter out what the liver couldnt or hemmorhaging on the inside of the kidneys from the glomeruli breaking down (you need to cut open the kidneys to see it and the hemmorhaging will look like tiny clots in the outer part of the kidneys). Sometimes the middle will also be yellow from excess bilirubin in the blood trying to be filtered out.
The other place to look is in the whites of they eyes or the inside of the wattles for yellowing-bilirubin will build up in liver failure. A chicken will not show jaundice in the skin like people do.
For sure your hen had a fatty disorder but i dont suspect that is what was making her fail (stopping egg laying yes....but obese hens can live years-i had one going strong at 5 years) its usually the liver failing that pushes them over the edge. I would say this hen probably had an underlying liver metabolism issue which resulted in her liver pooching out from physiologic stress and the obesity is actually a secondary finding.