1 month old chick with blocked crop: Update: surgery

[CptCluck]

About 4 days ago "Daisy" started to develop the large breast - so we started watching her. After reading around I figured she had an impacted, or sour crop.

Her crop is large, but soft, just like a water balloon. you can see her bulging skin beneath her baby feathers.

The day before yesterday it occurred to us that Daisy is no smaller than her siblings - I think she stopped growing. The amazing rate of growth in the normal chicks really stands out; two days later it's a very noticeable difference. That tells me that she's not really getting food.

Yesterday night I turned her upside down and massaged her cop, and caused her to puke everything out. I don't have that great of a sense of smell, I couldn't tell if it was sour or not, but it was basically a gooey paste. some wood chips came out and a piece of grass or two. So last night we put her into quarantine, took away the starter chick crumbles, and have been giving her bread soaked in olive oil. Today we gave her some plain yogurt.

Today, she's all filled up again. Three times today I've turned her upside down and emptied the poor dear out and she fills right back up again. each time I see less and less "debris" like wood chips, but it's still the same brown paste.

Any ideas?

Here's a picture of daisy after I emptied her crop. She's got a plate of bread/olive oil and a dollop of yogurt.

http://imgur.com/7LhGm

 

[LuvinChickens]

Hi, I'm sorry about your chick. My Speckled Sussex hen got sour crop. She had the same thing happen to her.
My thoughts:

• It does not have to smell bad to be Sour Crop. The smell is from a yeast infection so the smell worsens as the infection grows.

• I tried all of the vomiting/oil, but it was not at all affective.

• I'm sorry, but the only way I was able to fix the problem was to take my hen to the vet and have them preform surgery.

Anesthesia is very hard to use on birds. I had two hens with S.C. and sadly one did not make it through surgery. She felt no pain as she died in her sleep. Personally I believe that was the most humane way to die.
I will pray for your chick whatever you decide to do. I'm sorry if this offends you.

 

[CptCluck]

Thanks - prayers do not offend me

I'm afraid we'll lose her. it just fills back up like a balloon daily.

 

[LuvinChickens]

Please think about doing surgery. You might be able to save her.

 

[klmclain1]

Tell me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're dealing with sour crop and not an impacted crop. I don't know about olive oil and bread for sour crop... but, I think for sour crop you need to be giving her ACV in her water?? ACV can work wonders on a sour stomach. I'd also be giving her polyvisol (no iron).

 

[CptCluck]

What is ACV?

Also - her crop is now hardening. I can't make her puke it up anymore. The junk inside is now too thick to really come out.

 

[CptCluck]

Now I am considering surgery. After watching the youtube videos, I think it is something I can do.

The thing is, I know her crop is full of mash - chick crumbles and bread, so I don't know how easy it will be to clear it all out. I might have to do a lot of "flushing." I am hoping to find something blocking it. I'm going to study the anatomy a bit to locate the spot that empties the crop into the stomach.

 

[CptCluck]

We did surgery on her tonight. Poor thing is skin and bones and starving to death.

The surgery went well, and I didn't find it particularly disgusting or difficult.

Her crop was PACKED FULL of wood chips. I had to pick them out, which took awhile. We then rinsed out her crop a few times with a turkey baster. Sewed her up with super glue. She's now resting in a box with NO wood chips, next to her sisters. I'll give her some soft food tomorrow.

 

[klmclain1]

Wow... great job!

 

[CptCluck]

Praying for her recovery now...