I think we have an impacted crop...

[Eowyn2]

Going to pick her up. They lavaged it all out and put in an IV for some hydration. Waiting to see what the bill is... Not that I begrudge the cost of that expertise, but kicking myself for letting this go long enough that I had to utilize it.

 

[CMV]

Well, hopefully she is going to have a great story to tell her friends. And you will hang your head, and quite embarrassedly tell your friends you are an idiot for spending umpteen dollars on a chicken. I have been there. I have a $1000 goose wandering around my yard. You do what you have to do. You still feel like a chump, but sometimes certain birds are worth the money.

...but I am still embarrassed to admit I spent that much on a goose.

Good luck with her.

 

[casportpony]

Glad they could help, and don't feel bad/guilty about spending a bunch of money on a chicken, 'cause there are many of us that have done it. I think my last large poultry vet bill was over $700 for a turkey poult that I rescued from the feedstore.

-Kathy

 

[Eowyn2]

...aaaaand the vet gave her a once over as I was driving to pick her up and thinks there is still something stuck, so he wants to keep her till Monday now. He said he'd make it up to me...

And I plan on giving the bird a lecture on how many eggs she's going to have to produce to make up for this, hehe.

You know CMV, it's only money.

 

[casportpony]

Fingers crossed for you!

-Kathy

 

[CMV]

What's the word on her this AM? Is she coming home today?

 

[Eowyn2]

Well, it's not yet 8am here in mountain standard time, so haven't heard yet. Vet left a voicemail last night saying she's eating and stooling but still seems to have a doughy mass leftover that won't go away. He wants the bird guy to look at her this morning and see if she needs surgery. So waiting to hear that update.

 

[Eowyn2]

Mountain Daylight, not Mountain Standard. Stupid DST.

Anyway.

Talked with the vet this morning, and he says there's still something stuck, but she's stooling and otherwise happy, so at least some stuff is getting through. Options were to go to surgery or to see how she does and then go to surgery if she doesn't continue to get better.

So I brought her home.

And she's just about as bad now as she was when I first took her to the vet.

While I was there picking her up, he had done a "courtesy x-ray" and showed it to me - it looks like half her crop is taken up with the leftover mass. I should have listened to my gut (no pun intended) at that time realizing how large that was, but I had my small kids with me and needed to get back home quickly so I could go to work, so I wasn't thinking very clearly.

She's mostly been lonely and crying all day (except when my kids sat with her), so I brought in another chick from outside to sit with her (since I now don't have to track if she's pooping, cuz I'm just going to take her back tomorrow). Still kept crying, so now she's sitting in my lap with her head tucked between my arm and my stomach - and she's trilling like crazy.

Everything I can find indicates that trilling is a happy sound, so I'm just gonna let her sit here while I finish some work.

Poor baby...

 

[CMV]

How is she doing today?

 

[Eowyn2]

She's now home from the vet after crop surgery. Found a wad of dry dead grass in there. She's happy and perky.

And after all that, this d%#& chicken had better lay golden eggs...