Pullet swallowed a foot of paracord.

Pics

smudge

Songster
8 Years
Mar 20, 2013
419
176
217
Long Island, NY
Came
Came home after being away for a couple of hours and checked on the lonely 4 1/2 week old pullet on the porch, and found she had swallowed a foot of paracord!!!!!



The lonely 4 1/2 week old girl is on my porch, isolated initially because of a scalp wound at 1 day old. I had a bell hanging from a piece of paracord – thought she might play with it, but had taken it down a couple of days ago when rearranging the brooder now that she's become an escape artist, and left it outside the brooder. Well, she escaped again, found it, and when she came home only the bell was hanging from her mouth. I tried pulling it out, but it became clear very quickly that it's too far in to pull out withou killing her.



This is not string. This is medium, not lightweight paracord. She is too small for crop surgery, and my hands shake to much with Parkinsons anyhow. My potential helpers are a squeamish 12 year old and and elderly neighbor with MS.



We have no bread in the house.



I could try EVOO in some chick crumbles.



But this is paracord – not string or twine. If there is any hope, what is it?
home after being away for a couple of hours and checked on the lonely 4 1/2 week old pullet on the porch, and found she had swallowed a foot of paracord!!!!!



The lonely 4 1/2 week old girl is on my porch, isolated initially because of a scalp wound at 1 day old. I had a bell hanging from a piece of paracord – thought she might play with it, but had taken it down a couple of days ago when rearranging the brooder now that she's become an escape artist, and left it outside the brooder. Well, she escaped again, found it, and when she came home only the bell was hanging from her mouth. I tried pulling it out, but it became clear very quickly that it's too far in to pull out withou killing her.



This is not string. This is medium, not lightweight paracord. She is too small for crop surgery, and my hands shake to much with Parkinsons anyhow. My potential helpers are a squeamish 12 year old and and elderly neighbor with MS.



We have no bread in the house.



I could try EVOO in some chick crumbles.



But this is paracord – not string or twine. If there is any hope, what is it?
 
Oh How did such a small thing gets thick paracord down her throat. Chicks never cease to amaze me. Unfortunately I have not run into this problem. She may pass it or it may bind up some of her intestines. Olive oil would be a good idea. My dog had a blockage one time and to avoid major surgery the vet actually fed her Vaseline and it worked. I wouldn’t do that to your chick until you research it because a dog Of course it’s much larger and different then a chicken. @KikisGirls Any thoughts
 
Last edited:
As soon as I possibly can I will look up if you can give Vaseline or mineral oil to a young chick. I don’t know if it will work but if it does it hurt her it’s worth a shot. I’m going to keep looking but it might be one of those things that you have to wait and see if she passes it. But I don’t want to give up hope that there is something that could help. So I’m gonna keep trying to look into it.
 
Came
Came home after being away for a couple of hours and checked on the lonely 4 1/2 week old pullet on the porch, and found she had swallowed a foot of paracord!!!!!

If it were mine, I would cover its head with a dark cloth, hold it in my lap firmly with my forearm using that same hand to hold its head just at the beak and covering its eyes further. That way I could use my thumb and forefinger to help hold open its beak if needed and use the other hand to pull the chord out as slowly as possible. I would be sure to keep a tight hold on the chord so that if it escaped, it would pull it out on its own. Covering their heads with a dark cloth calms my birds that have panicky tendencies when being moved or handled. Figuring that what went down could also come up, I have pulled out long grass (hay) stems successfully with no apparent damage. Not saying you should do this, just that it is what I would do if it were mine because I would figure that even though it might not survive the effort, it was doomed for sure if I didn't remove it. I am sorry to hear of your physical limitations. Good luck.
 
Normally the advise it to never pull on something that’s dangling but in this case, there is no way she will digest that. Certainly not with the bell still hanging out.
I think your best option is to try and lube her crop up well with olive oil or coconut oil, and gently remove it as described above. Wrap her in a towel so she can’t shake free and rip it out violently.

That is what I would do if she were mine, and pray she makes it and that nothing gets internally damaged.
If you have access to a vet and the money to spend, now is definitely the time to take her.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom