Any luck with surgery??

[Eggcessive]

Happy Valentines Day to Willow, and glad that she is doing well.

 

[MissChick@dee]

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We thank you all for your support,
kind words, and encouragement!

TOO Adorable!

 

[Saaniya]

Willow is doing a lot better, gaining the weight back, and liking house life. She had the last of the stitches removed last week- they were kept in longer than average because they really had to stretch the skin to cover all that was removed from the second surgery. BUT- there is still 1 small area that hasn’t granulated in yet. It’s likely that the tight stitches in 1 area was pulling the skin in another area. There’s a small area of skin where the abdomen meets the inner leg (groin area I guess?) that’s still a bit open.
The options were to have a 3rd surgery (UGH) or give it time to see if it will granulate in. After seeing how great chickens are at healing, I’m going to wait on surgery and see if it can heal. If it won’t close on its own or starts to look infected I may have to reconsider (she’s still on antibiotics) but for now I’m letting nature take its course.
The yellow crusting you see in the pic below, along the skin opening, is not pus or infection, but scabbing starting to form on the edges. The white stuff above it is a cream I put on the skin daily. I email pics to the vet regularly so he can monitor her progress.

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This little bird is so resilient!! And she thinks she’s a parrot, the way she sits on my shoulder.
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I'm so glad she's fine and recovering
So few fateful chickens survive Surgeries and come back to normal.life she's one of those Lucky Gals
Lots of love

 

[leighks]

Final update on Willow:
She had her final recheck today at the vet and the thumbs up! We are so relieved.

It’s been a long journey. For anyone who read (and got thru) this long thread about spaying a chicken if needed, I would say do it. The surgery itself went well and was successful. The chance of any other chicken having a weird skin problem after surgery is highly unlikely and her situation was super rare.

Willow is an awesome, good natured chicken and she is a trooper. Since she’s no longer acclimated to the cold it will still be a few weeks until she reunites with her flock (it’s still bitter cold and snowy in western NY). Willow and I would like to thank you all for your support and encouragement!

 

[Morrigan]

So happy for you and Willow.

 

[fldiver97]

Great news!!!! So happy to hear she’s doing well

 

[Eggcessive]

So glad that she is doing well, and thank younfor the update. I would take it slow on getting her back with the flock, perhaps letting her live in a wire dog crate with food and water inside the coop for awhile until you try some supervised free ranging.

 

[leighks]

So glad that she is doing well, and thank younfor the update. I would take it slow on getting her back with the flock, perhaps letting her live in a wire dog crate with food and water inside the coop for awhile until you try some supervised free ranging.

Yes I have been reading up on introducing a new hen to the flock- they have been together their whole lives but Willow has been gone so long. I will integrate her slowly, but also hopefully they remember her!

 

[Kiki]

Yes I have been reading up on introducing a new hen to the flock- they have been together their whole lives but Willow has been gone so long. I will integrate her slowly, but also hopefully they remember her!

Good luck.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Thanks so much for the update. Willow is just so special to us.
I would truly like updates as she continues to recover her story is so fascinating. So as she hits her milestones during reintroduction to the flock etc...let us know.
I just love happy endings. So happy for Willow & You!