Postmortem of a chicken.

We attended the chicken postmortem performed by Dr. Tenzin Wangchuk on 11th December,2025. It was my first time observing and assisting in the procedure of necropsy of a chicken. The aim of the necropsy was to identify the cause of death.

Steps to proceed with the procedure includes soaking the chicken in the water to ensure no feathers or dirt contamination while opening the body cavity. Proper physical examination was performed including examination of the nostrils followed by cutting into the throat and evaluating abnormalities in every organs. We couldnt observe any abnormalities and signs of disease until we opened the proventricular. 

We found a large lump of decarded sag (foreign body) in the proventricular leading to distension and obstruction the ingesta flow. The large mass of sag ingested by the chicken was the cause of death!!!!

This is a reminder to every chicken or poultry owners to properly manage the discarded foregin materials and monitor the health and behaviour of the birds before such incidence happen to your birds.