Impacted crop surgery outcome - good or bad?

[ddurgin]

Yes we are taking a step back and taking a breath ! she has had this for a while , no need to jump into surgery with inexperienced parents! lol Lucy and her sister Libby are resting comfortably in our foyer tonight . I have put out cooked oatmeal soupy, laced with olive oil. Pellets soupy with olive oil and some canned pumpkin, and fresh water of course and a little message. I will look into the flush , I guess my first thought after watching a couple of youtube video's is how the heck do you get that out without killing them other than surgery! thanks for your input as we are new chicken keepers!

 

[casportpony]

Yes we are taking a step back and taking a breath ! she has had this for a while , no need to jump into surgery with inexperienced parents! lol Lucy and her sister Libby are resting comfortably in our foyer tonight . I have put out cooked oatmeal soupy, laced with olive oil. Pellets soupy with olive oil and some canned pumpkin, and fresh water of course and a little message. I will look into the flush , I guess my first thought after watching a couple of youtube video's is how the heck do you get that out without killing them other than surgery! thanks for your input as we are new chicken keepers!

You'd be surprised as to what adding a bunch of water will do. Full sized hen can probably take 30-60ml very easily. tube, massage, wait for fluids to clear a little and repeat. If it's just grain this will probably help.

-Kathy

 

[Kamivy]

I was doing research on what to do for my flock of mixed bantams who all have impacted crops - bad grain I think - and after reading this thread tried the advice of the post above and using a piece of fish tank tubing crop fed bicarb solution into all of them and gave it a good massage to break up the impaction, and fasted them for 24 hours. I'm pleased to report empty crops on all but 3 this morning. I will give the remaining 3 a repeat treatment which I'm sure will do the job. Thanks for the great advice, it saved my whole flock.

 

[casportpony]

I was doing research on what to do for my flock of mixed bantams who all have impacted crops - bad grain I think - and after reading this thread tried the advice of the post above and using a piece of fish tank tubing crop fed bicarb solution into all of them and gave it a good massage to break up the impaction, and fasted them for 24 hours. I'm pleased to report empty crops on all but 3 this morning. I will give the remaining 3 a repeat treatment which I'm sure will do the job. Thanks for the great advice, it saved my whole flock.

Welcome to BYC!

-Kathy

 

[appps]

I've done two, both successful. I didn't use superglue though, so I can't comment on the white skin. I'm wondering it the glue has discolored the skin. I'm not familiar with what you sanitized the bird with either. I just used alcohol or something like that. I'd just keep an eye on it. Hopefully, it's not dead skin.

The most important thing when doing this, besides sanitary conditions, is where you make the cut into the crop. It must be at the top of the crop. Not in the middle, not at the bottom. That way, liquids won't leak out. I'm not sure if you used superglue on just the skin or the crop also. You do not have to stitch the crop muscle if you cut near the top. It will heal and close on it's own. Just the outer skin needs stitching or glueing. If you do stitch, make sure you get them out in about five days. I used sterilized fishing line. One other thing you need to do after closing her up, is gently move the skin in a circular motion a few times a day for a few days. I read that this will prevent the skin from adhering to the crop wound.
Another important thing to do is withhold food and water for the first 24 hours. Food for sure, water, just give a little bit to her a few times a day. You do not want her filling her crop up with water, so just provide a little bit at a time for the first 24 hours. She won't dehydrate, so best not to give too much. When you do start feeding her, make sure it is very soft food, like baby food for the first few days. Also, not too much at a time. You will have to feed the bird often, but in small amounts for the first few days. You want to give the muscle a chance to start healing.
Keep an eye on those strips you put on. I had a bird eat one I put on. It was eating anything it could get ahold of,, so don't put it on shavings, straw, paper or anything like that. I had it in a dog crate on a plastic tray because it also shredded the newspaper and was eating that!
If you have any antibiotics you can give it, do it to help prevent infection. Pen G would work. You are going to see some ugly colors come up on the bird in the next few days (bruising), so don't be alarmed. Just watch for infection and keep her in a sanitary enviroment. She should be ready to go back with flock in about a week. Make sure she is eating regular before you put her back and she doesn't have access to whatever she stuffed her crop with. I had one go back and bind it's crop again. It's usually the ones at the bottom of the pecking order that end up crop bound because they are eating the trash in the pen instead of visiting the feeders. More feeders usually take care of that.

@MrsBachbach. Can I ask what the outcome was with the one who rebound her crop? How did you treat that the second time?