*YUCKY POST-OP PIC*...Buff Brahma with Pendulous Crop

biball

Hatching
5 Years
Aug 20, 2014
3
2
9
Just wanted to show a picture of "pendulous crop." Yokey is a 2 year-old Buff Brahma girl. We have 5, and they are cherished family pets. For nearly a month, Yokey's crop was slow to go down overnight. Been pendulous for a little over a week. There is a vet a few miles from us that cares for birds (a rarity in these parts). After our consult yesterday, it was determined that there is something hard in Yokey's crop that is interfering with it emptying. A mass of fibrous material can be felt and palpated, but in the midst of that is something hard. Only way to get it out is through surgery. Yokey only weighs 6 pounds, and her breast muscles are atrophying. I had no idea, because she is a Brahma...and very fluffy.

Surgery is this afternoon. Allegedly, crop surgery is fairly uncomplicated and not that rough of a recovery for the bird. We shall see.

Yokey will be staying in our Florida room, in a large dog crate, for her recovery.

Kind of morbid, but I am looking forward to seeing what was in her crop!

I've read some of the posts on here about crops, surgeries, DIY methods, etc...

Anyone out there have any more recent stories to share?
 
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The surgery on Yokey's crop took almost an hour. There was nearly a half pound of hay and seeds and gnarly grass inside. The hay, I believe, is what caused the most problems. It is so strange, because the only hay in their coop is in the areas where there isn't food. However, I do like to put dried mealworms in the coop run, and the chickens love to dig through the fresh hay that lines it. Maybe Yokey is just an over-zealous eater? And accidentally scarfs down hay?

Anyway, we got home about 2 hours after her surgery, and she was woozy. I put some plain greek yogurt inside her recovery cage, and she ate it so quickly. The doctor gave us no diet restrictions, so I also gave her some scrambled egg and some fresh blackberries.

She was ravenous this morning, so I think she hasn't been getting enough calories for quite some time. I reintroduced a little bit of grit and her regular layer crumble. She isn't drinking much water, but her poo is a really good consistency...so I know she's hydrated (could be from the subcutaneous fluids they gave her at the vet...but either way, she looks really good).

I cleaned up the paper towels lining her crate this morning, and let her wander around the Florida a bit. She is talking and cooing to me every time I make eye contact or say something to her.

One more day of separation from her homies, and I think I'll put her back with the girls. She goes back to have her sutures removed in a week or so...but they're covered completely by her feathers. I'm cautiously optimistic that there will be no picking. Besides, she is at the top of the pecking order...

The three pics are of a) what the vet got out of Yokey's crop (which I'm told smelled really great); and b & c) Yokey this morning.



Look at my girl's nice, non-pendulous crop!

Fingers crossed things continue to go well. Y'all have a good one!
 

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