Hi all,
Just thought I'd quickly share our experience since this forum has always been so educational for us. So I wanted to share our first experience with having an ex-battery (ex-caged) hennie operated for a growth in her tummy.
We've had these girls before where the tummy would become enlarged and our vet usually drained them with a syringe, in some cases the liquid would accumulate again, but in some it would stay down and the hen would be alright.
However in this case he said he felt a hard mass the size of a tennis ball and suggested that we operate.
Since we are always learning about chickens and we intend to continue keeping them, and since such an option was available (a blessing to us!), we decided to try it out and try to help this girl.
He operated her on Thursday and yesterday (Friday) morning she was still not overly perky but she drank a LOT (water with antibiotics), had painkillers in the mouth and after a while started to get interested in food too (I put the water over her pellets to make them into a mash which she ate).
Our doctor kindly kept the mass that he extracted from her to show us. When I felt it, it was heavy and hard. He said it was a ball of puss. He also took about 12 syringes of liquid out of her tummy. Initially the plan was to remove the oviduct but it was not possible due to some swelling (if I understood correctly) so he cleaned it and put everything back in place. Given all the circumstances he really did what he could.
I have to say she never was showing that she was feeling uncomfortable (but her tummy was huge and hot), so we went for the surgery in hopes that it is still not too late to save her. Time will show now how everything will go but for now she is recovering after the op, eating and already 'talking' a little this morning.
Here is the mass.
I hope maybe someone will find this useful. Veterinary medicine has sure advanced a lot and I am happy that these things are possible now and we have a doctor with an interest in birds (and reptiles!).
Just thought I'd quickly share our experience since this forum has always been so educational for us. So I wanted to share our first experience with having an ex-battery (ex-caged) hennie operated for a growth in her tummy.
We've had these girls before where the tummy would become enlarged and our vet usually drained them with a syringe, in some cases the liquid would accumulate again, but in some it would stay down and the hen would be alright.
However in this case he said he felt a hard mass the size of a tennis ball and suggested that we operate.
Since we are always learning about chickens and we intend to continue keeping them, and since such an option was available (a blessing to us!), we decided to try it out and try to help this girl.
He operated her on Thursday and yesterday (Friday) morning she was still not overly perky but she drank a LOT (water with antibiotics), had painkillers in the mouth and after a while started to get interested in food too (I put the water over her pellets to make them into a mash which she ate).
Our doctor kindly kept the mass that he extracted from her to show us. When I felt it, it was heavy and hard. He said it was a ball of puss. He also took about 12 syringes of liquid out of her tummy. Initially the plan was to remove the oviduct but it was not possible due to some swelling (if I understood correctly) so he cleaned it and put everything back in place. Given all the circumstances he really did what he could.
I have to say she never was showing that she was feeling uncomfortable (but her tummy was huge and hot), so we went for the surgery in hopes that it is still not too late to save her. Time will show now how everything will go but for now she is recovering after the op, eating and already 'talking' a little this morning.
Here is the mass.
I hope maybe someone will find this useful. Veterinary medicine has sure advanced a lot and I am happy that these things are possible now and we have a doctor with an interest in birds (and reptiles!).
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