Crop surgery......aftercare help please!!

[kylieschooks]

Hi everyone, hope some people can help.

My lovely chicken had an impacted crop, so I took her to the vets on Thursday and she had crop surgery to remove all the contents, which was mainly hay and grass. She is doing brilliantly, eating and drinking and pooing great! She is very happy and active.

I was given chick crumbs to feed her, but I wasn't told how long to feed her for, also I'm wondering how long to keep her inside in the warm, she must be really bored, but I know she can't just go back out there and eat what she wants.

So how long shall I keep her in doors, and how long on chick crumbs for?

What shall I feed her after the crumbs?

Thanks

 

[chooks4life]

Well, I don't know what state her wound is in. Is it still stitched? Scabbed? Covered with a bandaid or similar?

I had a hen and rooster who both lost their crops to a fox. He was torn open from chin to breast, crop utterly removed, water and food dribbling out of a few holes in his throat whenever he tried to eat or drink. She only had most of her crop's surface torn off, leaving the inner membrane though which I could see her food distinctly. I knew she'd lose the membrane as well because there were no blood vessels to allow regrowth.

Anyway, he got gangrene, but I pine-tarred him and he healed up fine. No crop but you'd never know he was opened up like that. I never changed his food, still giving him coarse grain mix and the usual. Same with her. I pine-tarred her crop but it died and quickly she had an open hole in her chest which food fell out of. Over about a week it closed to a much smaller hole and food only rarely fell out. Over a bit longer than that week the hole closed completely and she was fine. She later regrew something approximating a small crop, but he never did.

But long story short, both were fine, I didn't keep them indoors or give them any special consideration beyond the pine tar (Stockholm tar, pure, it's miraculous stuff) and both lived on without an issue.

I don't think she needs special care unless she's on antibiotics, which could prevent her immune system from healing as quickly as usual and make her weak to antibiotic resistant bacteria etc since it kills the good bacteria she has and the bad bacteria is always quicker to colonize.

Best wishes.

 

[kylieschooks]

Oh

Well, I don't know what state her wound is in. Is it still stitched? Scabbed? Covered with a bandaid or similar?

I had a hen and rooster who both lost their crops to a fox. He was torn open from chin to breast, crop utterly removed, water and food dribbling out of a few holes in his throat whenever he tried to eat or drink. She only had most of her crop's surface torn off, leaving the inner membrane though which I could see her food distinctly. I knew she'd lose the membrane as well because there were no blood vessels to allow regrowth. 

Anyway, he got gangrene, but I pine-tarred him and he healed up fine. No crop but you'd never know he was opened up like that. I never changed his food, still giving him coarse grain mix and the usual. Same with her. I pine-tarred her crop but it died and quickly she had an open hole in her chest which food fell out of. Over about a week it closed to a much smaller hole and food only rarely fell out. Over a bit longer than that week the hole closed completely and she was fine. She later regrew something approximating a small crop, but he never did.

But long story short, both were fine, I didn't keep them indoors or give them any special consideration beyond the pine tar (Stockholm tar, pure, it's miraculous stuff) and both lived on without an issue.

I don't think she needs special care unless she's on antibiotics, which could prevent her immune system from healing as quickly as usual and make her weak to antibiotic resistant bacteria etc since it kills the good bacteria she has and the bad bacteria is always quicker to colonize.

Best wishes.

Oh no that sounds horrible :-( poor chickens!!

Her scar is couple of inches and very neatly stitched, tey are dissolvable stitches, don't know how long they take to dissolve?

Vet told me to give her crumbles to slowly get her crop working again as she was so blocked up. I just don't want her to get too bored locked in a dog cage, she is greedy and I don't want her To go outside and over do it and be back to square one!!

Thanks for you info though, good to know!!!

 

[chooks4life]

It sure looked horrible with my chooks but looked worse than it was, and thankfully pine tar's a great painkiller and disinfectant. Amazing stuff. Heals things SO quickly and well. Couldn't find the scars on either bird.

I don't know how long the stitches take to dissolve, sorry, but you're right to be careful because she was blocked up so she would be probably "running slower" with her digestive system; a decent amount of it may need resurfacing if old rotting food was sitting against its inner surfaces for a long time.

Powdered slippery elm bark is a disinfectant and healing agent which is also nourishing and will re-surface her entire digestive system and greatly lessen her chances of a relapse. It's somewhat expensive (like around $12 a kilo here but they sell it in various size bags so I can get an amount for $2.50 that will last for many months); you only need a little, a pinch, and it's a lifesaver sometimes. I used it to save one chick with Bacillary White Diarrhea and it's useful for anything that's wrong with their entire digestive tract.

Fresh raw crushed or minced garlic is a great internal disinfectant which contains Allicin, a potent natural antibiotic which can kill bacteria even the strongest artificial antibiotics can't. It also contains over 34 naturally occurring antibiotics and some prebiotics and has a high dose of sulfur which is vital to tissue healing and protection from viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.

Vitamin A is vital for the mucosal membranes of the entire body, to heal and maintain them, so any fruits or veg or even a capsule of vitamin A opened and mixed in her feed would help her heal quicker. Even just the touch of that oil on her inner wound would help as it is absorbed directly. Same with the other things I mentioned.

I would make sure she has a good supply of pretty small grits and shell pieces, and as she gets more healed, larger ones, available at all times. If she's staying stocked up on her "teeth" she should be safe from most long bits of vegetation. Some people give them only very blunted shells but even very sharp ones are pretty safe for most birds, they are very tough critturs.

While she's stuck in the cage for the moment, bits of soft fruit should help cheer her up as well as help heal her.

Best wishes.