I am copying a post (long one!) I made to another group last year when I had this same problem. Hopefully it will help you out. As for disinfecting, I used Iodine. Hydrogen peroxide damages healthy tissue and can hinder healing, alcohol stings badly and also dries tissue. I never followed up with anitibiotics as her incision site never looked bad and I hate to use them unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.
OLD POST:
I just started keeping chickens less than four months ago. It
has been quite a learning experience and thanks to my SLW pullet
Penelope, a fairly stressful one as well! I wanted to share this
most recent experience as it taught me that things are not always
what they seem and can be much more complex than what one might
first suspect.
I first saw Penelope at the New Hampshire show and sale a
couple months ago and knew right away that she would come home with
me. Within a few weeks she started laying, giving me my first egg
ever. Soon after, though, things started to go downhill. I noticed a
few mites on her eggs when she was laying and started treating for
that. She was quite thin as well and I assumed that it was from the
very heavy mite infestation she currently had. I then noticed that
she would frequently attempt to regurgitate throughout the day. She
was still eating and drinking so I asumed that it was perhaps a
reaction to the Sevin used to dust her. I had started them on a
pellet instead of crumbles and thought maybe the pellets were too
large as well. I started offering a crumble again and the
regurgitation seemed to stop, at least for a while. I also tried to
flush her crop but could not really get much of anything out. I
could feel a lot of material in the crop but since she was still
eating, drinking and defecating I was not too worried. It was at
this time that she also seemed to have gone broody as she would only
leave the nest for a couple hours each morning to eat. Even though
there were no eggs in her nest she would prefer to set all day.
The mites were finally killed off and I thought things were
starting to turn around. I concentrated on getting weight back on
her and offered finely cracked corn, hard boiled eggs and other
treats to help beef her up. After a couple weeks she was still not
gaining weight, plus the regurgitation had returned. A few days ago
I examined her again and found her to be at least as thin as she was
before. She would eat frantically in the morning, head back to her
nest for the day and not gain weight. I decided that I had to
attempt another flushing of the crop as her attempts at
regurgitation were becoming more pronounced.
Using a much larger tube, I tried to flush out the crop and try
to suck out whatever seemed to be lodged inside. After several
unsuccessful attempts I could tell that there was something rather
large inside that would never be able to leave through any
conventional method. I could feel what felt like soft modeling clay
that I could mold and shape with my fingers. Since she was
progressively getting worse I knew I had to do something. It was at
that point that I knew I would have to do surgery.
I want to preface this with the statement that I do not take a
decision like this lightly. Having the several years of surgical
assistant experience that I do helped me immeasureably during this
ordeal and I knew it was really her last hope. After wrapping
Penelope in a towel I began by disinfecting and then making an
incision in the skin over the front of the crop. I then made another
through the crop wall itself. The blood vessels in these areas are
quite easy to see which made it much easier to prevent any
unneccesary bleeding. When I exposed the crop contents I was amazed.
There was soggy hay wrapped into a large ball, filled with food
particles. As I removed the material and placed it into a container
I could not believe how much was inside. The other thing that amazed
me was how calm Penelope was throughout this ordeal. She stirred
only a couple times but never really got upset. When all was said
and done I had removed a fist sized, solid clump of balled up hay
from a little bantam!
I closed the incisions with thread and skin glue and let her
rest overnight. This morning I tried offering a small amount of soft
food but she refused it. I finally let her go out into the pen with
the others to eat for a few minutes and you would never believe that
she had been 'under the knife' just a few hours earlier. She ran
around, put several larger hens in their place and ate. I only
allowed a small amount of food and then caught (chased!) her and now
have her in a seperate recovery bin for the next few days. I have
been offering metered amounts of soft food and water and she is
eating, drinking and defecating.
I think the most important thing I learned through all of this
is that you cannot take any symptoms at simple face value. One
condition can be hiding another or even affecting it's symptoms. It
is also important to note that a condition does not always follow a
script. I was not too worried about an impacted crop as my bird was
eating, drinking and defecating for a month while she had this
massive lump of hay stuck in her. Everying I read about impactions
said that they do not do any of those things. I also think it is
important to really watch your birds for any sign of a problem. If I
did not spend as much time as I do with my birds I know I would have
missed many of these signs.
I am now hoping the that Penelope saga is finally over and we
can focus on recovery. I also hope that my chicken keeping
experiences will be a little less exciting in the future. My other
little bantam hen just started laying yesterday. I am almost afraid
to think what will happen to her next!
Richard
