- Mar 19, 2014
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I went outside to feed the chickens some scratch grain I had just bought. Turned around to leave their pen and one cornish rock is flopping around and gasping.
Now I hate the idea of going through so much trouble for a cornish rock. But then it was too small to just finish off and process, and I can't stand to watch an animal suffer and die. So I picked her up and tried to straighten her neck so she could breathe better for a moment. But before I had walked the 100 feet from the pen to the house, she was breathing heavily, but no longer gasping. I started to feel around and look her over for issues - animal bites, injuries, bad poop, whatever. Then I felt the crop and new instantly what the problem was. IT WAS ROCK HARD!
And the moment I squeezed it a bit, she started to gasp and thrash again. I didn't have time to do research on here. I knew her crop needed to be emptied RIGHT THEN or she wouldn't be able to breathe, and she'd die.
So I rushed her onto the counter, laid out a clean towel, grabbed scalpels from a pack I bought for one roo's bumblefoot issues in the past, pulled open a ton of gauze packs for any blood, washed my hands (couldn't find the gloves fast enough), found a spot with no feathers (easy enough on a cornish rock) and cut her crop open.
Tons and tons of dry cat food was packed in there. She had apparently found the cat food bowl and liked it better than her own pellets, and couldn't wait for the scratch grain to arrive either. She had gorged herself on dry cat food, without drinking a SINGLE drop of water, or even swallowing a single piece of grit to crush it. And now the cat food was putting too much pressure on her trachea, which stopped her from breathing.
I dumped MOST of it out, leaving a few pieces in there for her to digest for recovery energy. Then I stitched up the crop itself with plain needle and thread (it's all I had on hand - since you don't stitch up bumblefoot openings). I got the crop stitched pretty tight, and then did a loose stitch on the skin itself. She stayed still during the entire thing, and didn't even make a noise about pain. I figured she had very little energy to do it from the lack of oxygen she had just dealt with anyway.
Then, avoiding the wound, I gave her a bath/shower to get all of the duck-poop mud off of her (I couldn't handle THAT smell, even though I had just handled her exposed innards). After the bath, I used some alcohol pads to get the blood off of her feathers (although she hardly bled at all). Once the bath was done, she stood up and clucked.
Okay, so clearing the pressure on her trachea was successful.
But now what? I'm only going to feed her boiled eggs for a few days - nothing else. Then I'll work on wet pellets (which will expand and turn into mush anyway) and eventually work her back to dry pellets.
Did I miss anything? Did I forget a step in the surgery that might cause problems later on? Aside from the soft foods, do I need to give her anything else now? I think I read a quick blurb from one post that said even the normal sewing thread will dissolve inside of her body eventually, so does this mean I should just leave the crop stitches on? Or should I cut her skin open again in a few weeks and remove it, then restitch the skin?
Following the bath, she was wrapped in a towel, and placed on a heating pad in the floor of my closet. That's my egg incubating room, as well as my "chicken hospital" where I turned the lights off so she could rest.
I know she's going to make it at this point. I had NO F'ING CLUE what I was doing, although I had heard of people needing to do surgery to clear impacted crops. And when she couldn't breathe, I just did what I could right then and there to allow oxygen to get to her lungs again. I just want to know what other steps I should take now, to prevent problems from anything I may have forgotten, or any mistakes I may have made.
Now I hate the idea of going through so much trouble for a cornish rock. But then it was too small to just finish off and process, and I can't stand to watch an animal suffer and die. So I picked her up and tried to straighten her neck so she could breathe better for a moment. But before I had walked the 100 feet from the pen to the house, she was breathing heavily, but no longer gasping. I started to feel around and look her over for issues - animal bites, injuries, bad poop, whatever. Then I felt the crop and new instantly what the problem was. IT WAS ROCK HARD!
And the moment I squeezed it a bit, she started to gasp and thrash again. I didn't have time to do research on here. I knew her crop needed to be emptied RIGHT THEN or she wouldn't be able to breathe, and she'd die.
So I rushed her onto the counter, laid out a clean towel, grabbed scalpels from a pack I bought for one roo's bumblefoot issues in the past, pulled open a ton of gauze packs for any blood, washed my hands (couldn't find the gloves fast enough), found a spot with no feathers (easy enough on a cornish rock) and cut her crop open.
Tons and tons of dry cat food was packed in there. She had apparently found the cat food bowl and liked it better than her own pellets, and couldn't wait for the scratch grain to arrive either. She had gorged herself on dry cat food, without drinking a SINGLE drop of water, or even swallowing a single piece of grit to crush it. And now the cat food was putting too much pressure on her trachea, which stopped her from breathing.
I dumped MOST of it out, leaving a few pieces in there for her to digest for recovery energy. Then I stitched up the crop itself with plain needle and thread (it's all I had on hand - since you don't stitch up bumblefoot openings). I got the crop stitched pretty tight, and then did a loose stitch on the skin itself. She stayed still during the entire thing, and didn't even make a noise about pain. I figured she had very little energy to do it from the lack of oxygen she had just dealt with anyway.
Then, avoiding the wound, I gave her a bath/shower to get all of the duck-poop mud off of her (I couldn't handle THAT smell, even though I had just handled her exposed innards). After the bath, I used some alcohol pads to get the blood off of her feathers (although she hardly bled at all). Once the bath was done, she stood up and clucked.
Okay, so clearing the pressure on her trachea was successful.
But now what? I'm only going to feed her boiled eggs for a few days - nothing else. Then I'll work on wet pellets (which will expand and turn into mush anyway) and eventually work her back to dry pellets.
Did I miss anything? Did I forget a step in the surgery that might cause problems later on? Aside from the soft foods, do I need to give her anything else now? I think I read a quick blurb from one post that said even the normal sewing thread will dissolve inside of her body eventually, so does this mean I should just leave the crop stitches on? Or should I cut her skin open again in a few weeks and remove it, then restitch the skin?
Following the bath, she was wrapped in a towel, and placed on a heating pad in the floor of my closet. That's my egg incubating room, as well as my "chicken hospital" where I turned the lights off so she could rest.
I know she's going to make it at this point. I had NO F'ING CLUE what I was doing, although I had heard of people needing to do surgery to clear impacted crops. And when she couldn't breathe, I just did what I could right then and there to allow oxygen to get to her lungs again. I just want to know what other steps I should take now, to prevent problems from anything I may have forgotten, or any mistakes I may have made.
