Wisco may have gotten his under control without surgery but I did the surgery. We actually did the surgery once and got out about 1/4 of junk. Her crop was not empty in the morning and there was no food or water where she could get it. So we went back in, it was even easier the second time as we just had to cut the sutures. We got anothe 1/4 to 1/2 cup of junk, long grass, straw, scrambled egg, apple peel/not sure how she got that, etc. We removed it all, you have to really probe and using your fingers is necessary, make sure to get it all out. Right after sewing her up, both times, she jumped up and ran about the house. We kept her inside in a large box for about a week/10 days, then put the box out in the coop on it's side with chicken wire over it so she and the flock could get used to each other again. One day we left it loose to see what she would do, she got out, and intergrated right back into the flock. She has even raised herself to a bit higher in the "pecking" order. She has done well. She was back up to weight in 10 days or so, and was laying smaller eggs within two weeks. She is laying normal, but infrequent eggs now. You can not even see where we stitched, and she is all feathered back in, and it is just over five weeks or so. I would do the surgery again, with no hesitation. Yes, I alternated the ACV and electrolytes, every other day. So, she got the benefits of the acv a on one day, and the electrolytes the next. I fed her yogurt with added probiotics, scrambled egg, both before and after the surgery. The 24 hours after surgery I gave her nothing to make sure she was and stayed empty. Then I gave her the electrolyte water, and some polyvisol. The next two days I gave yogurt, the third day added egg 3 times per day, then I began giving her warm mashed up in water grower crumbles for 2/3 days, then added the layer crumbles mashed up with water and yogurt. Then moved to normal crumbles by a week. No grit, shell or anything else for that first week. Her pooh took about 3 days to be "normal" and her system was working with some food. By two weeks or so she got whatever the others got. She is a happy, and extra sweet hen now. She still runs right up to us when we go out there, and she seems to look at us with thanks. We nearly lost her, and I will not weight should this happen in the future. Good luck, and put your post/questions on the emergencies forrrum as a current post and you may get other ideas. Check out the link in the above post also.
Beth
