1 month old chick with blocked crop: Update: surgery

We stitched her up with cotton this afternoon. I dipped everything in rubbing alcohol and washed the area pretty well beforehand. 7 stitches: three in her crop, 4 on the skin. We left a vent on the bottom for drainage. We used cotton thread.
 
For the future: DON'T FEED BREAD TO A CROP IMPACTED CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bread swells when wet and makes things worse. Yogurt mixed with olive oil is a much better alternative. Hope she recovers
 
Hi, don't mean to steal your thread but wanted to give some helpful insight into others than my be experiencing similar problems.

Our little chick that we "thought" had a block/sour crop did not have that at all. We took our chick to the vet yesterday and it has digestive problems, but mimic a "blocked" crop to the naked eye. The vet drained the crop and she is now one clavamox for the next week along with a hand feeding formula that has to be tube syringed into the crop several times a day. We are not out of the woods either as she is still not digesting the liquid formula, the crop is still filling up.... He did a swab slide of the throat and showed bacteria so I will be dropping of fecal sample of the hatch mates (3 others). If this chick does not make it he will send it to a zoological expert for a necropsy.

I learned three interesting things from the Vet yesterday that I feel are very worth sharing:

1 - Never give an unhealthy (sick or currently with issues like impacted crop) bird yogurt, just gives said bird one more thing to try and break down when the system is already not working properly. *If you need to give probiotics the vets carry a powder probiotic formulated for birds that can be given.*

2 - I learned the benefit to "mother" rearing verses "brooder" rearing - chicks that are with their moms eat and scratch in her poop, thus giving them natural antibodies from her poo to prevent things like cocci and bacterial issues, where chicks raised in brooders do not. Wish I have more room for moms and babies.

3 - NEVER give chicks grit, even chick grit, it is just not good for them or needed at young ages like some say or recommend, it's a no no.
 
Update:
She's doing fine - we now feed her regular amounts, (poor thing was so hungry at first) but she's still wearing the cone of shame in case she would pick at her scab. Her wound completely scabbed over and did not infect so far!
 
Update:
Her would is almost invisible now... the scab fell off (or she preened it off) and it's just a little red spot, barely noticeable if you push back the feathers. Chickens are downright amazing!

But... now she's got sour crop. Trying to fix that now.
barnie.gif


Lesson learned:
  1. Don't use super glue
  2. Stitch the crop but not the skin
  3. Give her an inverted cone of shame to keep her from picking at it.
 

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