Impacted crop surgery...we did it!

[SC_Hugh]

Dominique has had a impacted crop for a few weeks now, I decided this morning that we had to empty her crop by surgery. We tried (twice daily) 2-3 mL's of canola oil or mineral oil and crop massage for the past week, it helped, but it didn't resolve the issue.

Today, we put a sock over Dominique's head with one of us holding her (me) and one of us doing the dirty part (my RN wife), then we parted the feathers on her chest, cut a 2-3" vertical incision of the outer skin membrane (paper thin), then cut through the actual skin (thicker), then pushed some of the crop balloon through the incision and then cut open the crop

if it would have been smelly, I would have thrown up, it was pretty gross without being too smelly. There was some blood dripping from the incisions of the skin and crop, but overall not much blood. We pulled out a very fibrous braid of organic material that was 6-8" long plus some other long strands

No more free ranging for a while

After we emptied the crop, we used Super Glue to close the crop incision and then used sowing thread to close the skin. I imagined it would be worse, but it was pretty gross anyway.

We plan to remove the thread next week,

--Hugh

 

[b.hromada]

Its sounds like it went off without a hitch.

Hope your girl is doing much better now.

 

[Break an Egg]

I'm glad it came out okay. I had to do that with one of my hens and she did great. Start her slowy on water and yogurt after nothing to eat or drink for 24 hrs.

 

[SC_Hugh]

She has a gallon of fresh water and I am going out now to give her some more plain yogurt.

What about lay pellets dissolved in water? That stuff looks like mush.

--Hugh

 

[newchickenfamily]

Wow! Way to go on that!! You are brave souls!

 

[eastbaychicks]

Yes... make a mush out of her food. Fruit worked really great and yogurt too. We did water/feed mash that and the morning after the surgery and one of the two birds I had to perform this on was eating like crazy! I was shocked. Wish I'd known about the superglue idea... wow.

I found that my one bird that made it acted like she had an infection. We gave her antibiotics for four days initially, she was eating the whole time. Took her off, and she stopped eating and really dropped weight in two days much faster than the previous days. Then we started her back on the meds and she took off gaining 5-10% body weight every day. We only removed her from the other girls for one full day. We let her free range with the rest of the birds mostly to bribe her to eat more... worked like a charm and also the birds kept her in their flock though we did have to stay outside and keep an eye out for any mean pecking and dust bathing. We didn't have a problem with either. Every day she stayed out longer with breaks in between. She's perfectly healed now three weeks later and all her feathers are growing back. It was a really tough two weeks... with a lot of wound care and supervising her outside so she wouldn't get depressed in the house. Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great with an RN in the house.

WAY to GO!!!! I hope your birdie makes it.

 

[SC_Hugh]

What kind of antibiotics and how much?

Dominique is doing fine, acting normal and eating well.

Layer pellet mush, yogurt and water so far...

--Hugh

 

[eastbaychicks]

Here's where I found the info... it was very useful.... sorry I've been away all day. I used the Penicillin G Procaine. I was giving her 3 cc's and she seemed ill so we added one cc towards the end. It worked super well, but it was difficult to administer. Poor birdie, I chose to put the shot in her breast meat. There is another post that is very similar where she tells you to give the injection about 1/4'' in if I remember. I'd look up her history and find her other posts like this. It worked well! I saved my bird.

Good luck! How is she doing today?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3711543
ANTIBIOTICS:
Many wounds do not require additional antibiotics other than topical (on the skin) antibiotic dressings. However in the case of animal bites that weren't caught immediately, cat bites, and wounds that have been sitting or are particularly deep, it may be a good idea to treat with antibiotics. (For cat wounds, you *must* include penicillin as one of the antibiotics and from day one with any catbite wound – even if your veterinarian prescribes Baytril.) If you make this decision, please be sure to get one that is appropriate for wounds. The packages at the feedstore are not and will only cause more problems if used for a purpose for which they’re not intended.
Penicillin G Procaine (Aqueous Pen-G) is commonly found at many feedstores in their fridge section. It's awesome to keep in your own fridge for a rainy day. It's a very thick antibiotic and requires a thicker gauge needle. I would use no thinner than a 22 gauge, preferably something more thick at a length of .75 to 1 inch. At many feedstores, you can buy 3 cc syringes that are together already with needles. These are nice to have on hand as well as that 30 cc syringe that you'll use to flush wounds.
Instructions on how to give an injection are available separately as well as how to treat with antibiotics. If you do choose to use injectable antibiotics, be prepared to go the entire recommended course. Penicillin G Procaine is a concentrated penicillin (they're not all created equally) and only is required to be given every other day. Based on the type of antibiotic you expect to use, buy that many syringes plus two.

 

[SC_Hugh]

Dominique is doing great, thanks for asking (knock on wood...knock knock knock). She is eating, laying, roosting, squawking, etc.

Yesterday, she was a little subdued after losing some blood and getting cut open and then sowed up again. She laid an egg yesterday before surgery and one this morning

She is my favorite hen of all in my tiny flock

Tomorrow at lunchtime, I will give her a warm bath and clean her wound and check on the healing and apply some more topical antibiotics.

All good,

Hugh

 

[SC_Hugh]

One week update, Dominique is doing great, she laid an egg everyday this week and never missed a day

We removed the stitches today after 8 days. The wound is healing from the inside out, the outer skin looks like dried chicken skin (what else would it look like?

). Next time, we will use dental floss or real sutures, instead of cloth thread which was hard to pull out.

Two days ago, we gave away our 10 month-old rooster, Little Ricky...life is so peaceful without him.

--Hugh