Having just completed the next article for Practical Poultry about wasting diseases in chickens, I thought I would try out a quick note with a couple of pictures taken from a practical session with Bristol veterinary students.
This particular cockerel was a cross between a speckled Sussex and cream leg bar, this was not intentional. He is about a year old and then was seen to be going sick. Every now and then he would crow as though he was in pain. Before anything further could be done, he died.
Upon post mortem examination, it could be seen that he had lost a lot of muscle from the breast giving rise to a razor keel appearance. His abdomen was slightly swollen and on further examination it was found that his liver and spleen were both grossly enlarged.
Very often these are the only post mortem lesions seen. This this has given rise to the disease syndrome of big liver and spleen disease. The two likeliest causes for these abnormalities are either Marek’s disease or lymphoid leucosis. To distinguish between the two, further tests would be required such as histopathology.
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The picture on the left with the ruler the picture on the left with the ruler shows the spleen and the grossly enlarged liver. The spleen is the small round object to the left of the liver. The liver felt very firm, had multiple white tumours throughout its substance and rounded edges to the lobes. The picture on the right shows a close-up of the varying sized tumour nodules.