Impacted Crop - Baseball Size - VIDEO IS READY!!

[Jackie B.]

Holy COW. That's amazing. And sick. And awesome. All at the same time! How can we make this video a sticky for other people's reference?

-Jackie

 

[Miss Lydia]

you all did an excellent job, you remained calm and sounded so professional, but i am amazed at how much straw came out of there poor girl it's amazing she lived. It just confirms to me that straw and chickens do not go together. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[dandelionheart]

You know at first I thought, there is no way I could do this, but after seeing the video, I think I could. I'd have my mom (who is a RN of 38 years) and other helpers... Thank you so much for sharing! I am absolutely shocked by how much was in there though!!!

Good job and THANKS for sharing!

 

[Shadowgrass]

I used regular old crazy glue to close both crop and skin. In hind sight, I would have still used superglue on the crop, i don't think internal stitches would be good here, unless of course they were the dissolving kind. I would have using sterilized fishing line on the outer skin, she opened it up twice (the skin) and I super glued it closed both times. I think she is finally leaving it alone, but I would definitely stitch the outer skin layers if I ever had to do it again. I don't have actual photos of the crop contents, just the video. If you are looking for volume, it was definitely as big or bigger than a softball. It was all straw with her feed mixed it, I think acted like an old adobe house, clay and straw. Very strong. Some people have been pushing me to use anti-biotics, and some have definitely said no. I don't think the surgery was hard on her at all. She stood and was walking around like normal right after, even clucking a little. I think she was happy. Her clucker sounds normal now. It was so packed she could barely cluck and even sounded like it was inhibiting her breathing quite a bit.

This may sound a little weird, but I just kept thinking that it was something else, it was almost like preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving in reverse. Once you focus on the task and ignore everything else, you would be surprised what you can do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Has this changed you mind about using straw in the nest boxes?

 

[MissPrissy]

Fantastic job!!! Excellent video! Thanks for posting this very educational surgery.

 

[speckledhen]

Excellent work. We've done two of those, but with less than satisfactory results. Both hens were in heavy molt. The first one's crop just quit--it wasn't really impacted, but full of mushed together layer feed. She rallied and was eating and drinking post surgery, but the next day, took a turn for the worse and passed on. Guess her system was just too depleted. She had lost a good bit of weight.

The second hen had a severely impacted crop with dead leaves and other fiber and she never really came back after surgery-refused to eat or drink.

A heavy molt is when I see crop issues here, whether the crop just quits, is impacted or becomes soured and gassy. The only way to save a hen with a severely impacted crop is to empty it just like you did. Sometimes, it's been going on too long and their systems are just too weak to recover post-surgery.

Thanks for posting the video for us!

 

[NonnasBabies]

That was a great video!! Ya'll did a outstanding job!!

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

A skin stapler would come in handy to have around too!! Agree that gut suture on the crop would be nice.

Great job and thanks so much for posting!!

 

[kidd42]

Great job, Thanks for posting!