Emergency - torn crop

[minirexmom]

We have a Muscovy hen duck that has been attacked by a dog and her crop is torn. She is eating and drinking however the majority of it is dripping from her neck. Does anyone have any ideas as to whether or not we can repair the damage or will she need to be put down asap?

Thanks!

 

[Wildsky]

I would personally try repair it. Can you sew? Seriously there are posts on here where folk have had to open the crop to clean it out and have sewn it back up.....

 

[minirexmom]

We can sew and have repaired other injuries in the past. I was not certain if the crop was easily repairable or not. We are going to catch her when my husband gets home from work and examine how badly it is damaged.

I hope it is something we can fix.

 

[Wildsky]

I bet you can - if she is walking around and trying to eat - I bet she'll fix up just fine!!!

With any luck someone will come along that has doen this type of "surgery" and can give you some tips!

 

[minirexmom]

I hope so!

My fingers are crossed.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[McChix]

Oh, poor thing! Did you see jeaucamom's crop operation post? It's a "sticky" right at the top of this forum. Good luck!

 

[minirexmom]

Thank you for all the responses. Unfortunately when my husband came home from work and we went out to catch her (I am pregnant and therefore needed his help) she had been torn to pieces.

I am so frustrated with the dog situation around here. We have all of our poultry and the rabbit barn inside a chain link fenced area. The dogs have discovered ways to get under the fence to get to the poultry.

 

[cherndon712]

I HATE reading posts that end like this...I'm sorry, but here in Wyoming it is legal to shoot animals that are on our property...It's unbelievable the way people let their dogs get loose to terrorize our critters! I haven't had problems yet, but believe me, when I do...

un
I'm sorry for your loss, hun... :aww Did you see the dog that did it?

 

[minirexmom]

No, I didn't see the dog that was responsible however I have a good idea of who it was. We have had trouble with the same three dogs for awhile now.

Before we moved all of our rabbits into the barn we had our bucks in outside cages. I saw two of the dogs out there under the cages and barking at the rabbits. We had set the cages up high enough to be easily accessible for us to get to and clean and also thinking to keep them high enough off the ground so that wild critters would likely not bother them. It was not the wild critters that we had to worry about. I ran outside and the dogs took off however the damage had already been done. One of my rabbits (a red mini rex buck) had lost his entire front leg through the bottom of the wire. It was completely ripped off at the shoulder. They had managed to pull his leg off through 1/2" x 1" wire.

I have talked to our neighbors about it (the ones that own the dogs) and they are very non-chalant about the whole thing. Their response is - if you shoot them, you shoot them. I love animals of all kinds and my fear is not shooting the dogs - but shooting them and not killing them straight away. I hate to see animals suffer. I don't want to be forced to shoot any animal but I am tired of having to bury mine so theirs can run free.

In our county we do not have any sort of animal control either which does not help the situation. It is frustrating at best.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Too bad you can't SSS the neigbhours...
So sorry for the loss of your bird and the bunny YIKES!
So that the dogs can't get back into the poultry pens by digging you can make an L shaped out of welded wire that will go alongside the fence and down on the ground that you can hold down with big rocks, cinderblocks or just buried underground.
You could also try HotWire, an electrical fence...
Other than that shoot the danged dogs...
My opinion is if it's on a leash and being walked it's a pet, but if it's in my yard, it's nothing more than another predator and will be treated as such.