2021

Signalment:Lavender Orpington pullet

History:Backyard flock. Owner found the bird dead and brought it to the lab that morning.

Gross Lesions:The hen was emaciated (BCS 1/9). The base of feather shafts on the neck and inguinal regions were thickly coated with lice eggs. Hundreds of living northern fowl mites were present in the feathers. The crop contained a brownish slurry with a sour odor. The pericardial sac and cranial airsacs were thickened and opaque. Multifocal, < 2 mm, slightly raised, irregular, white lesions were visible on the heart. There were variably sized (generally < 4 mm), multifocal to coalescing, white to tan, firm lesions in both lungs. The dorsal aspect of the right lung was occupied by a single firm white mass, and both sets of lungs were adhered to the body wall. The lung masses were encapsulated and comprised of concentrically layered caseous material. There was a 3 x 3 cm, solid, multilobulated to botryoidal, white to tan, slightly hemorrhagic mass adhered to the body wall, cranioventral aspect of the left lung lobe, and regionally adjacent airsacs. Smaller, similar, isolated masses were distributed on the cranial aspect of the liver capsule and were particularly numerous on the serosa of the proventriculus. The intestines were empty of digesta but contained numerous adult ascarids. The cecae were distended with firm orange cores. The ovary was immature. Ureters were distended with yellow chalky material and there were two small (< 2 mm) white masses in the right kidney.