Ill Rhode Island Red Hen

[chickenlover chickencrazy]

I believe she means to make gentle strokes from the bottom of her crop upwards.

Thank you - I have never had anything like this occur before.so I might be a litte bit stupid.

 

[rebrascora]

For massage, think manipulating a stress ball, firm but not rough "sort of squeezing and releasing", but not tight squeezing. You are aiming to manipulate the contents of the crop gently upwards, but just within the crop, not right up the neck at this stage. Start gentle and get a little firmer each time. If you are doing it right she should be quite comfortable with it. You are only aiming to hold the pouch at the front of her chest that is her crop, in your hand, not her whole neck.

 

[biophiliac]

Thank you - I have never had anything like this occur before.so I might be a litte bit stupid.

Not at all, only smart people seek advice on BYC. Birds are notorious for not showing symptoms until quite ill. To look ill is to make oneself the target of predators.

ETA See now - Barbara has explained and I learned too

 

[chickenlover chickencrazy]

She certainly seemed to like it! And I see what you guys mean when her crop is soft and not hard. Thank you everyone!!! I'll keep updating her progress!

 

[chickenlover chickencrazy]

In a week, I am going on holiday. Will she be alright on her own over that time?

 

[rebrascora]

@biophiliac
As regards the crop surgery on poor little Vippy, my bantam pekin (cochin), I didn't do an article but I did document it on another thread.... a necropsy thread I think which was probably inappropriate, thinking about it now but was in response to another thread! I cannot take any real credit for it myself....I was desperate because she was going to die if I didn't do something. I watched a few You Tube videos showing how to do it and the people who made those videos definitely deserve all the credit. The best tip was superglueing the crop back together because I was really anxious about doing sutures but didn't believe the glue would work on damp flesh.... I blotted the edges dryish after removing the blockage and irrigating with saline, then applied the glue and nipped together. It was fiddly getting hold of just the edges of the incision into the crop and not the skin and not sticking my fingers to the tissue as well, but the glue held beautifully and I left the outer skin incision open to drain just in case the crop leaked, but she was up and eating within 10 mins of surgery and back to laying eggs two weeks later. The skin incision was covered with antiseptic cream and left open and it healed great. I will try to find the thread.

 

[biophiliac]

@biophiliac
As regards the crop surgery on poor little Vippy, my bantam pekin (cochin), I didn't do an article but I did document it on another thread.... a necropsy thread I think which was probably inappropriate, thinking about it now but was in response to another thread! I cannot take any real credit for it myself....I was desperate because she was going to die if I didn't do something. I watched a few You Tube videos showing how to do it and the people who made those videos definitely deserve all the credit. The best tip was superglueing the crop back together because I was really anxious about doing sutures but didn't believe the glue would work on damp flesh.... I blotted the edges dryish after removing the blockage and irrigating with saline, then applied the glue and nipped together. It was fiddly getting hold of just the edges of the incision into the crop and not the skin and not sticking my fingers to the tissue as well, but the glue held beautifully and I left the outer skin incision open to drain just in case the crop leaked, but she was up and eating within 10 mins of surgery and back to laying eggs two weeks later. The skin incision was covered with antiseptic cream and left open and it healed great. I will try to find the thread.

Thank you, I was wondering about super glue in lieu of sutures. I've never had to deal with crop issues but always good to be prepared with options. How large of an incision was required? Near the bottom of the crop?

 

[rebrascora]

@biophiliac

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ns-xxx-graphic-necropsy-photos.823961/page-33

post number 330 on the above thread..... BEWARE that page and thread contain some VERY GRAPHIC pictures

 

[rebrascora]

I went in near the top.... my thinking being that the crop has to hold liquids as well as solids, so if my incision didn't seal there would be less seepage the higher up it was. The incision was only about half to three quarters of an inch, which made getting the contents out fiddly (they had to be teased out bit by bit) but I didn't want to make it any bigger than it needed to be. There was a little more bleeding from the skin than I had anticipated and that would no doubt have increased with a larger incision....also working on a conscious bird, I wanted to keep it as small as possible.

 

[rebrascora]

@chickenlover chickencrazy

Good to hear that she is enjoying it. That has been my experience too. Sometimes you see them trying to rearrange it themselves by snaking their head and neck, but direct manipulation by massage can make a much bigger impact on the blockage. Make sure to only give her sloppy food with no access to fibre. My little Vippy that I operated on was a little terror for eating straw, even after she had recovered from the crop surgery. Basically you just want to be putting none lumpy gravy like consistency food into her that will be able to drain through the soggy plug and not add to it.
It is hard to say whether you will have her fixed in a week or not. The more often you massage the better chance of things breaking up and her recovering. It might be that you have to escalate to vomiting her but give her a couple of days of massage first and keep us updated. You will need to isolate her in a cage so that she does not have access to the same food as the others or any fibrous bedding.... perhaps just put her on puppy pads. Just sloppy food and water and perhaps some grit.