does anyone know how to make a crop bra?

[karen+3chickens]

This is the short version of a very long story which ends in me very frustrated and out many hundreds of dollars. My plymouth rock had a fungal infection about 3 weeks ago. She was on nystatin for 9 days. Her crop was still HUGE and juicy, so I took her back to the vet. The infection is gone, but her crop is just all stretchy and not passing food well. It just hangs. My thought is that the food is pooling below where the entrance to the rest of her body is (but I could be totally wrong there). I cannot afford any more vet bills for her. She seems healthy and happy, she is eating/drinking, her poop looks normal. My last resort is to try a crop bra. Does anyone know how to make one? Materials? Sizing? Putting it on? How long to keep it on? This is truly a last ditch effort and I don't know much about it. Any help is much appreciated. I'm so sad that this chicken is having these issues.

 

[Emzyyy]

Never heard of one, good luck with it.

 

[karen+3chickens]

anyone?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Well, that's a new one on me. Try Victoria Secret?

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I've never heard of using one on a chicken, only parrots. Try googling it. It should be the same design for a chicken as for a parrot, I would assume.

Here you go hun. Right here on BYC. Scroll down. There's an illustration on how to make and fit one. Good luck with her. I've had crop stasis with parrots and its not a good thing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2445586

Laurie

 

[karen+3chickens]

Oh boy! This is going to be more complicated than I thought! I am at my witts end with this little chicken and am seriously rethinking ever getting any more because of all the issues she has had. Thanks for the link.

 

[karen+3chickens]

I am leaving tomorrow for a 5 day vacation and won't be able to try the crop bra before then. Hattie looks worse than ever. Her crop is so big that her feathers have separated in the front. She keeps dropping her wings and heaving. I'm so sad. I think we will be burying her when we get home

 

[Jenski]

Did the vet completely evacuate the crop when this all started - - before the Nystatin?

In any case, I have heard of similar issues with this that were helped with gentle daily massages of the crop until it began to regain its muscle tone. I am seeing varying degrees of success with this, but a lot depends on whether the crop was properly evacuated to begin with.

Don't know if that helps much with a vacation in the works. Please let us know how she does.

 

[karen+3chickens]

The first vet I went to was not impressive at all. He took a small sample of stuff from her crop, but that was it. He put her on nystatin and told me she could be out with the other birds the whole time, eating and drinking as normal. I did not learn until later that this was not the most effective course of action. She overstretched her crop last year around this time (some kind of mass in her crop that was blocking), but it was not nearly this bad. Last year, it took three weeks of separation, massage, small meals, and tons of patience to get her back to normal. I think she is prone to crop issues.