Hi there,
I went through three bouts of impacted/ static crop with one of my hens. The first time, fairly routine.
The second time it turned into a pendulous crop (she also would stuff herself with a lot of grit) and mechanically there is no way the food can make it to where it needs to go. With Miss Prissy's help and the fact that I was on vacation and had the time to spend massaging, we were able to get her thru it.
About six weeks later it happened again (all three times it had to do with her getting into fibery things) and I took her to the vet to actually put her down, figuring something was congenitally wrong.
This vet, a friend of mine who I didn't realize would work on chickens, knowing her history now, had me inject her twice daily IM with Reglan which is a gut motility drug, in addition to an antibiotic as well as an oral antifungal for 10 to 14 days depending on how quickly she responded.
I stopped after the ten days. She also designed a very fashionable crop bra in hot pink for the first 24 hours.
But first she had to physically empty her crop, which was impossible to suck out due to the fiber and grit. So, she walked out to the front of her clinic with her assistant.
said assistant had to flip her upside down and shake, while Dr. was carefully blocking her airway so she wouldn't aspirate any of the awful smelling gunk that came out. While smiling cheerfully to the clients walking in and saying if you have a sensitive stomach, Walk quickly!!
She was isolated and Food was withheld according to Miss Prissy's dietary guidelines from the second episode, and small frequent feedings were fed until she was able to tolerate her regular feed and turned out with the flock. But I have not fed her anything but yogurt, BOSS, and some scratch since the episode and prbaably never will.
So there may be an option outside of surgery if you can find a vet willing to work with you.
He sure is a handsome guy!
I went through three bouts of impacted/ static crop with one of my hens. The first time, fairly routine.
The second time it turned into a pendulous crop (she also would stuff herself with a lot of grit) and mechanically there is no way the food can make it to where it needs to go. With Miss Prissy's help and the fact that I was on vacation and had the time to spend massaging, we were able to get her thru it.
About six weeks later it happened again (all three times it had to do with her getting into fibery things) and I took her to the vet to actually put her down, figuring something was congenitally wrong.
This vet, a friend of mine who I didn't realize would work on chickens, knowing her history now, had me inject her twice daily IM with Reglan which is a gut motility drug, in addition to an antibiotic as well as an oral antifungal for 10 to 14 days depending on how quickly she responded.
I stopped after the ten days. She also designed a very fashionable crop bra in hot pink for the first 24 hours.
But first she had to physically empty her crop, which was impossible to suck out due to the fiber and grit. So, she walked out to the front of her clinic with her assistant.
said assistant had to flip her upside down and shake, while Dr. was carefully blocking her airway so she wouldn't aspirate any of the awful smelling gunk that came out. While smiling cheerfully to the clients walking in and saying if you have a sensitive stomach, Walk quickly!!
She was isolated and Food was withheld according to Miss Prissy's dietary guidelines from the second episode, and small frequent feedings were fed until she was able to tolerate her regular feed and turned out with the flock. But I have not fed her anything but yogurt, BOSS, and some scratch since the episode and prbaably never will.
So there may be an option outside of surgery if you can find a vet willing to work with you.
He sure is a handsome guy!
