ABSTRACT. In the 3 years leading up to November 2009, 6 different types of naturally occurring neoplasms associated with avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) were diagnosed by histopathology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 140 layer hens out of approximately 100,000. The most prevalent tumor type was hemangioma (50%) in commercial layer flocks; the second most prevalent neoplasm type was myelocytoma (38.6%); a small number of ALV-J positive lymphomas (4.3%) that were not associated with Marek's disease (MD) or lymphoid leukosis (LL) was observed. Histiocytic sarcomas (2.1%) were found mainly in the spleen, liver and kidney. Fibrosarcomas (2.8%) presented as metastatic thigh, liver, lung and kidney neoplasms. Three cases of intestinal adenocarcinoma (2.1%) were found associated with ALV-J. Chickens with multiple tumors were a common phenomenon. Usually, hemangiomas plus myelocytomas (8.6%), myelocytomas plus histiocytic sarcomas (2.1%), hemangioma plus myelocytoma and lymphoma (3.6%) were found in various viscera organs. The present report describes the occurrence of multiple neoplasms associated with ALV-J in field layer hens.KEY WORDS: avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), layer chickens, multiple neoplasms.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 72(8): 1027-1033, 2010 Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), first described in the United Kingdom in 1991 and later in other countries, has been associated primarily with myeloid leukosis in meat-type chickens [8,[11][12][13][14][15]. ALV-J has caused severe economic losses in broiler breeders throughout the world. Vertical transmission from broiler breeders to progeny is more frequent with ALV-J than with other ALV subgroups [25].ALV-J in the field has occurred almost entirely in meattype chickens several years ago. Layers have rarely become infected, but experimental studies with Rous sarcoma virus having the inserted envelope gene of ALV-J by Payne [16] have shown that both layers and turkeys are susceptible to ALV-J infection, while other poultry and game birds appear to be resistant.The frequencies of different tumor types seen by Payne [11] during 1996-1998 from suspect ALV-J infected flocks were 58% for myeloid leukosis (ML), 12% for histiocytic sarcoma (HS), 9% for erythroblastosis and 5% for blast cell tumors. Numerous birds had more than one type of tumor, and some had up to four different types.In chickens, layer strains are considered to be at risk in China and their exposure to ALV-J contamination has already been demonstrated by Xu [23,24,26] and Cheng [6]. ALV-J in egg-type chickens with ML has already resulted in significant economic losses in China. Gingerich [9] also reported that a recombinant ALV containing the long terminal repeat (LTR) of the subgroup J and the envelope of subgroup B was isolated from commercial White Leghorn flocks with ML. Cheng [5] reported cases of ML diagnosed in a local Chinese breed that is commonly recognized as a dual purpose type of chicken, both for eggs and meat, in Shandong Province, P.R. China....