Just performed impacted crop surgery - update post #54: caution!!

[technodoll]

my gosh! so happy to be able to share my experience with others, this is what this forum is all about eh?

Angel is still in her broody breaker crate, still pooping the last bits of rocks and pebbles and not eating much - she's fussy!

But she's drinking and seems fine, no more regurgitation of liquids and no more black oily poops - I'm amazed at how small and soft her crop is now

Two more days of isolated recuperation and then I'll slowly introduce her back to her normal life, minus the free-ranging. I will let her in the small tractor so she can have access to some short lawn and a bit of dirt if she scratches, but no more long tough grasses or ample pebbles! Her diet will be mash and fine crumbles for a month or so, and if she does well I will slowly allow her to eat her normal diet.

You can bet I'll be monitoring my little one every day - what an ordeal..!

 

[chickeepoo]

Sorry I didn't see your posts until just now… we went through this home surgery in February for a RIR hen with a huge impacted crop (long grass blocking the crop with a softball-worth of stuff backed up). We didn't have anything to anesthetize her with and laid her on her side with a cut sock as a hood to cover her eyes- she was very still for the whole procedure, which lasted a good 45-55 minutes because there was SO much stuff in her and Dr. Hubby was being very careful with her and cleaning as he went with saline solution. He alternated using tweezers to pull out grass and spooning out old soured feed, oatmeal and grain. A poultry farmer whose wife used to be a vet tech said later if we could get out hands on Lidacaine gel, that would have numbed the surgical site.

He used super glue to close both incisions, after flushing clean with saline and patting dry with a sterile gauze, putting a line of glue along both edges of tissue and rolling it in and holding it closed with tweezers until it set good. Same for outer skin. She healed fine, never had infection, and went back to laying within a couple of weeks. I think if you could avoid sutures, it would be easier on your sweet bird since she has to go through this again. See if anyone can get you that gel or cream to numb her and keep a hood over her head- and we wrapped our bird in a t-shirt below the incision area and secured with masking tape until after she was done. I don't think there's much difference between medical super glue and regular, but you can check. Good luck, and keep us up to date!

 

[chickeepoo]

oops- just saw AFTER I'd posted that Angel is passing the pebbles and recuperating… well, if you ever come upon this problem again (I hope not, for either of us, but sometimes things just happen), you'll be ready, with your experience and the input and support online. You "done good!"

 

[technodoll]

Update: Angel is doing super well, it's like she never had any impaction and surgery at all!

BUT!!!

I will never again use cotton thread to close a wound, it got nasty... I started noticing a stink at the stitch site about a week after the surgery, there was no redness or oozing but there was definitely some pus lurking under her skin, which had formed a hard mass around the stitches.

10 days after surgery we brought her back in the house and removed the cotton thread stitches as best we could.

It was ugly.

It stank and the cheesy pus was horrible, everything was stuck and glued and scabbed together - I could not pull all the thread out as it would have ripped a gaping hole in her chest

You could see it was hurting Angel as she struggled when I pulled a bit too hard (although I was very careful and as gentle as possible).

I managed to pull out most of the thread, we flooded the wound with hexachloridine and packed the hole with antibiotic ointment and then sent her on her way. Thankfully her body cleaned up the infection now that the wound was re-opened, and over the course of a week the gap closed with scabbing and new skin and she's as good as new now - whew!!

So, just a note of caution if you're going to attempt this home surgery:

-get some REAL surgical thread for stitches OR
-use super glue to seal the wound shut

Lesson learned for me!

 

[EastinChickens]

Quote:
I know someone who used fishing thread to close up the wound, it seemed to work pretty good, came out very nice. You have to sanitize the crud out of it before using it though, by washing it with a hydrogen peroxide/iodine mix.

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

I know this is a very old thread, but I thought I could add my own two cents of experience. Regarding the cotton thread- I went to my local vet and explained the situation and she was understanding and gave me a pack of dissolvable sutures. Otherwise, I have heard that super glue works well.

 

[hamilton3475]

Quote:
Very good info, gonna save this 1 for future reference

please post on patient's recovery. I'm sure she'll be fine

 

[ConnorMayasMom]

Same story with my favoralle...did use surgical surture and tiny needles and it worked great...kept her indoors for 1 week, putting betadine on incisions and giving soft diet. She gradually started back on regular mash and then transitioned back outdoors...what a trooper. Will try to get the dissolvable ones next time. It's a pretty easy procedure...although I wouldn't attempt any other surgeries. I was thankful for all the youtube videos on how to. It's sad when it comes to this or they will die. I'm very proud that I saved my favoralle, Shellous, and she is outside pecking about to this day. She surely would not have made it otherwise.

Good job on your efforts as well!

 

[acsinos]

I know this is a very old thread, but I thought I could add my own two cents of experience. Regarding the cotton thread- I went to my local vet and explained the situation and she was understanding and gave me a pack of dissolvable sutures. Otherwise, I have heard that super glue works well.

We actually did surgery tonight on one of our hens...same situation as many have mentioned. It was either surgery or she wasn't going to live.

Everything went well. We had an issue with the super glue sticking to the crop (i think it was a problem with us keeping it dry enough to stick) so i ended up stitching that with cotton thread. Used super glue on the skin incision and that worked perfect.

I think we are going to invest in a few packs of dissolvable sutures to keep on hand for future chicken emergencies. I would feel more confident having them on hand.

Its been about 3.5 hours and Ginger the hen is awake, alert and preening...resting comfortably in a brood box in the basement. After seeing what we removed from her crop, i am glad we did the surgery. She was loosing weight and obviously not getting enough nutrition!




Crop contents



Ginger Post Op

 

[Gen9]

We actually did surgery tonight on one of our hens...same situation as many have mentioned. It was either surgery or she wasn't going to live. 

Everything went well. We had an issue with the super glue sticking to the crop (i think it was a problem with us keeping it dry enough to stick) so i ended up stitching that with cotton thread. Used super glue on the skin incision and that worked perfect. 

I think we are going to invest in a few packs of dissolvable sutures to keep on hand for future chicken emergencies. I would feel more confident having them on hand. 

Its been about 3.5 hours and Ginger the hen is awake, alert and preening...resting comfortably in a brood box in the basement. After seeing what we removed from her crop, i am glad we did the surgery. She was loosing weight and obviously not getting enough nutrition!

Awesome! This gives me hope; should I ever need to perform this procedure