Chick not standing. CROP FAILURE SURGERY! SOLVED! **so eggcited**

[Upcycled]

I posted a couple days ago about an 8 day old chick not standing all of the sudden. My post got buried, so I Poly-Vi-Sol'ed him and kept him isolated, fearing a virus. He was feathering up and talking quite a bit...even practicing his crowing voice right on cue first thing in the morning. BUT STILL NOT STANDING.

Well last night was day six or so of the odyssey, he was beyond not standing, he couldn't even sit without listing and I suddenly noticed he had a BIG BULGE on the right side of his chest and neck area. CROP FAILURE.

I am not certain if his lazy sitting and slight runtiness was initially the CAUSE of his not digesting properly, or an ingested shaving (none of his 30 flockmates was so afflicted) caused the crop impaction and made him weak and unbalanced. Either way, I got on BYC and found someone on an old thread who suggested (on a much older chicken) that you must slit the crop and drain it.

SO I DID.

Using a sterilized X-acto knife, alcohol, and Krazy glue, my ten year old (who wants to be a doctor) and I did surgery in the powder room that has served as the little Roo's hotel suite.

If I had had the hands, Id have taken pictures, and a flip video woulda been nice, so I am sorry for that>>>but it went VERY WELL.

It was easy to find a slick shiney spot off the back of his right shoulder blade, the bulge was so suddenly pronounced. We prayed, swabbed him with alcohol, and I cut him. Thankfully he is small enough not to be unmanageable. I can't imagine doing this on a full grown CHICKEN.

I squeezed the goo from his crop...you wouldn't believe the amount. It was all crumbles, of course, so not altogether foul(!).

I swabbed the area again, and while he protested, I could clearly see the skin layer and the crop layer. There was very little blood. A drop or two of Krazy glue (not unlike the Dermaplast the surgeon used on my face some years back to prevent an ugly scar) and he was left alone with only fresh vitamin water to recover for the night. Some whimpery peeping was heard, but then quiet. I prayed once more and went to bed.

Well, this morning, HE WAS STANDING!!!

And right on cue, ROCKY (he's a fighter) started his crowing. Mostly he's just ticked I haven't fed him, because he is over in the corner where his food SHOULD be squawking and pecking endlessly.

I will withhold food from him until later tonight, and then only a small bit. I will reunite him with his flockmates in another 36 hours or so so he doesn't gorge himself on crumbles and blow his "sutures".

Though he still appears markedly more runty than his flock, I have marked his head with a red sharpie so I can be sure to keep watch over him when he gets "home" to the baby pool brooder.

What a thrill. Now let's pray he's really cured. If his vocalizations are any indication, ROCKY is on the mend.

 

[chickanddoglvr]

WOW!! that does not usually work. That is pretty impressive that you were able to do that. Me myself would be to afraid i would hurt him more.
Good Luck!!

 

[jerseygirl1]

Congrats - that was great!

 

[purpletree23]

Beautiful job...well done.....applause. One thing...change the color of the marking on his head to something OTHER than red. Chickens are attracted to red and the other chicks will be pecking him on his little head.


I've read a lot and performed crop surgery but never heard of it being done through the back. Why did you do this?

Here's hoping you son does become a doctor. Start saving that egg money ASAP.

 

[Upcycled]

Yeah...the red dot is a problem, but it was the only sharpie I had that wasn't black. As soon as I wrote it, I thought---gee, maybe not RED...but then McMurray marked some of my other roos with red, and then marked some with green so I could tell them apart in the order. No pecking so far on the other roos, but Rocky IS smaller now, relative.

I will buy a blue marker and scribble over his red mark. Duh. Can't save him, only to have him pecked to death!

But as for saving him, we will see if it TRULY worked in a week or so. To answer the "why" did I do it? He would have surely died if I didn't so what is the worst thing that could've happened---I kill him? It was worth the chance. And it taught my son a valuable lesson, that all things are worth saving and that EVERY life is precious.

I went through the side of his neck/ shoulder blade because, after a dangerously brisk chicken anatomy lesson on the Internet, that is where I estimated there would be no gastric "tubing".

This "Internet" thing is dangerous. Pretty soon my son will be thinking he can log on and perform a gastric bypass on the fat kid next door using only a paring knife and a rubber band ball from STAPLES.

It isn't a sucess until Rocky lives more than two weeks or so. I am afraid if I see his crop fill up again, he may have a developmental disorder and his system's pipes are just routed wrong. Then its night night time. I fervently pray that it won't come to that.

***fingers crossed***

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

You did great!!

 

[Country4ever]

Wow.........I'm glad it worked out!
So you didn't think that massaging for a few days and giving some olive oil would help first?
That's amazing that it was so full that he couldn't stand up.
I probably wouldn't let him out where he can eat too much for awhile, so his crop has its best chance of going back to a reasonable size.
I had a hen once whose crop got so stretched out that she died. Once its so stretched out, it just doesn't function any more.
Continued good luck!

 

[Upcycled]

Yeah, I'm keeping Rocky isolated and feeding him SMALL amounts through the day with no gorging allowed! He prectically attacs my hand when I set down the saucer of crumble mash.

I have never raised chicks before, but have been around plenty of chickens. I never knew about the stretching being fatal. You should have SEEEEEEN the amount of goo that I disgorged from that tiny bird. My high schooler wasn't home to video the procedure, but I am so mad I didn't at least set up the tripod, because it is something that I am SURE would have helped someone else be confident to do the same. It never occurred to me NOT to do it, because DEATH was assured if I did nothing. The whole thing took less than two minutes.

PERHAPS because he's just a chick, he will grow into any stretching of his crop---though honestly, I CAN'T feel that it is STILL oversized. The crumble mash I make him seems to be passing normally. Pooping and peeing, and roosting comfortably at night.

Olive oil? Thanks! I will consider that a tip for next time when he's bigger---if that happens---CUZ I SHO AIN'T GONNA BE CUTTIN' on no full grown roo!

His crop was so distended, so SUDDENLY that when I DID massage it, it made his very tiny body VERY uncomfortable and he appearred to GAG, if that is possible. He would wiggle his neck from side to side, like he was straining to BURP, of all things. I totally would have hurt him sqeezing like it would have taken to get it cleared.

But today's update is ROCKY IS IMPROVING! STANDING UP, PEEPING WILDLY (until I serve the chow) BECAUSE HE'S (kinda) STARVING. He is lonely. I can tell.