MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

Good luck Mary! Dr Mark will look after you.

Wish I could do a Zoom consult with Dr Mark sometimes, he sounds awesome!

His manner is sometimes a little brusque but that doesn't bother me. I assume he's neurodivergent in some way. However he knows what he's doing and that's all I care about.

I just felt her crop and it's round and hard, so I'm glad I booked her in.

She was very snug in the basket. I might have to get a bigger basket or box for her future car trips.

 

[MaryJanet]

We're back from seeing the vet. When we got her out of the basket, we saw that she'd produced a rather large, solid poop, so that shows some food is getting through (we removed it and then she did another one on the way home).

However, Mark noticed she was very swollen between and behind her legs, so he checked for fluid. There wasn't any, so he diagnosed peritonitis. This adds up because I've noticed the shells of the two eggs she's laid were uneven.

Then he said when chooks are not well, they often eat too much of the wrong thing and impact their crops. So it seems the impacted crop is secondary to peritonitis.

As her food is slowly moving through her, the impaction will be treated by reducing her free ranging time which will reduce the amount of grass while increasing the amount of pellets in her diet.

The peritonitis is clearly not great as it withstood last week's course of linco. So, she's on clavulox shots for a week and if that doesn't work the next line of treatment will be a hysterectomy.

I also asked about probiotics and he said the vetafarm probiotic was a good choice @LozzyR . I've ordered some and it should be here this week.

 

[BY Bob]

We're back from seeing the vet. When we got her out of the basket, we saw that she'd produced a rather large, solid poop, so that shows some food is getting through (we removed it and then she did another one on the way home).

However, Mark noticed she was very swollen between and behind her legs, so he checked for fluid. There wasn't any, so he diagnosed peritonitis. This adds up because I've noticed the shells of the two eggs she's laid were uneven.

Then he said when chooks are not well, they often eat too much of the wrong thing and impact their crops. So it seems the impacted crop is secondary to peritonitis.

As her food is slowly moving through her, the impaction will be treated by reducing her free ranging time which will reduce the amount of grass while increasing the amount of pellets in her diet.

The peritonitis is clearly not great as it withstood last week's course of linco. So, she's on clavulox shots for a week and if that doesn't work the next line of treatment will be a hysterectomy.

I also asked about probiotics and he said the vetafarm probiotic was a good choice @LozzyR . I've ordered some and it should be here this week.

I'm glad she is on aggressive antibiotic treatment.

Can you clarify please. He did not say anything about helping to reduce the size of her crop other than letting her work through it. Is that correct?

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm glad she is on aggressive antibiotic treatment.

Can you clarify please. He did not say anything about helping to reduce the size of her crop other than letting her work through it. Is that correct?

Not quite, he said to reduce her access to foods that might worsen the impaction by reducing her free-ranging.

But no other treatments for the crop because she's passing solids.

ETA, I was surprised by this as most folks on BYC treat impacted crops through massage etc. Presumably her impaction is not a serious case.

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm really taken aback by how much trouble I'm having with bacterial infections in the flock.

 

[MaryJanet]

I just realised I've been calling it an impaction when really it's a slow crop.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh dear. Poor girl. That all sounds miserable for her, and very worrying for you.

 

[BY Bob]

Not quite, he said to reduce her access to foods that might worsen the impaction by reducing her free-ranging.

But no other treatments for the crop because she's passing solids.

ETA, I was surprised by this as most folks on BYC treat impacted crops through massage etc. Presumably her impaction is not a serious case.

I was surprised by what you posted as well. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Grammy60]

Good morning/evening MJ and everyone