Hen swallowed my earring!

[TexasChickenGal]

One of our Black Australorps just pecked out and swallowed my pearl stud earring (a wedding gift from my husband) while I was holding her. I stuck her in the cat carrier so I can hopefully find the earring in her manure ). How long will it take to make the trip through her? How will I know if the post punctures her digestive tract on the way through?

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Oh. My. Goodness.

Her gizzard may completely destroy the pearl, I'm not sure. How long ago did she swallow it? Maybe if it's still in her crop, you could do a crop surgery and get it out?
If it passes through her crop, then the pearl is doomed; except if you kill her and take it out.

 

[TexasChickenGal]

This was about an hour and a half ago. We are very new to chickens (our first flock is 10 months old) so I'm not experienced in anything "medical" except applying anti-pick lotion! We chose dual purpose hens so we could have some meat after they were a couple years old, but maybe we should consider her for dinner. The bad thing is my husband can't be home til around 10 pm tonight and I know nothing about butchering a chicken.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Well, if your comfortable with butchering her for the pearl earring, do it. I know some BYC' ers would hate me for saying that, but that's my honest and brutal opinion.
Killing a chicken is quite easy. If you have an axe or hatchet, that'd dispatch her quickly.
Some people go into a debate about all the different 'humane' methods of killing a chicken, when just about every method is as humane as the next; with the exception of some.
The first time of killing a chicken is hard, but it get's easier every time. Your call.

 

[silkiechicken]

If you want any chance of getting that pearl back, go to the meat bird section and prepare dinner ASAP. As soon as that pearl reaches the gizzard, it's going to be pulverized by rocks and ground to bits. Their gizzards will grind rocks smooth and dissolve oyster shell (which is pretty much what your pearl is made out of). It might already be there since it was 90 minutes ago, but if you wait till 10pm tonight, there might not be anything left besides the setting.

Butchering is pretty easy. For starters, just skin her out and save the plucking for when you have more time.


Good luck!

 

[TexasChickenGal]

SUCCESS!! Thanks for the advice. I didn't feel comfortable butchering her on my own with no experience so I waited until Hubby got home so we could work on it together. He found the earring in her gizzard along with portions of two 22 caliber shells she had consumed. The pearl is a little dull and worn looking near the mounting, but the top looks fine. We will have our first taste of fresh free-range chicken a bit sooner than we had originally planned.

 

[hemet dennis]

Now what did we learn here ?

 

[pepperkorn67]

Awe -- poor girly.

Chickens love shiny things! I call shy hens over with my wedding ring.

Hope she was tasty.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

At least it all ends well then.

 

[silkiechicken]

Congrats on getting your pearl back! Glad the gizzard didn't totally destroy it by the time you got to her.

Don't forget to rest the hen for a few days and she might be a bit "tough" if you haven't had home grown older birds before.