Need Advice On Pendulous Crop and Surgery....ANYONE?

[JanetMarie]

Hi, I had a buff Orpington cockerel named Goldie, who had an impacted crop, and it had been stretched. A crop bra, may not work, but an elastic bandage absolutely works to keep the crop elevated so the food can get to the next step of digestion. Also, the elastic bandage will keep the stretched crop compacted so that it can heal, and shrink back to the normal size.

I did not use a crop bra, because it didn't seem to fit correctly to work effectively. I used an elastic bandage wrapped around over the crop area twice making sure it was supporting the crop, and secured to itself with a safety pin.

While Goldie's crop was healing, I only fed him small amounts of soft food, such as scrambled eggs and cut up grapes. I had to massage his crop every 2-3 hours to keep the food moving. It took one month of wearing the elastic bandage, crop massages, small soft meals, before his crop was empty one morning. I also let him have limited amounts of chicken food, that was ground up fine in the Vita-mixer. His total recovery took a long time, and he lost a lot of weight.

It also took a long time for his poo to become normal. His poo was small at first, then returned to more normal after a few months.

If your bird's crop is not emptied in the mornings I suggest massaging. Otherwise, food and liquid is not going to get through, and there will be more problems. I also suggest giving an avian specific pro-biotic. Hope this helps.

 

[PrincessPollo]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. Your info is very helpful. I purchased a crop bra & noticed also, it did not fit quite right. I do have some old ace bandages laying around that i will try. I wanted her incision to heal a bit before trying the bra again or massaging.

When she wakes up in the a.m. i cannot tell f her crop is completely empty or just plain stretched out. It feels squishy, kinda like a small water balloon. I just can't tell if its excess crop tissue or what little food she's been eating.

There were quite a few small white covered droppings under her this morning, so things are moving through, but the odd appearance still has me concerned.

My vet advised me that the next step would be exploratory surgery & its very expensive. And pretty much all i can do is encourage eating mush & drinking. Then wait to see if she makes a recovery or not.

I'm gonna keep on, keepin' on for now...I just hope I'm doing what's right for her....

 

[PrincessPollo]

UPDATE: It has been a couple weeks since I last posted. After struggling to get Gypsy to eat much of anything, I decided I needed to let her be a chicken...she was seeming so depressed. I sectioned off part of the run so she could be with the flock but not beat up by them for a few days. Low an behold, she started eating and drinking again! She is back in with the flock now. I am still offering mushy pellets, along with their regular pellets, grit, oyster shell. They all love the mush! The poo has improved slightly...not as dry and white, but not normal chicken poo. I continue to monitor her weight, which she is not gaining much back. Her crop is not emptying completely, but things are moving through and it is still much smaller than before. I try to do a couple crop massages daily as well. She seems happier with her friends and I just hope she will start to gain some weight back.

 

[rebrascora]

Good to hear that she is back with the flock and picking up. Fingers crossed for some weight gain soon.
Depression is an often overlooked problem is sick, isolated birds, especially when they stop eating. It's good that you were able to rig something up so that she could go back into the flock but in a protected area. Good luck with her continued recovery.

 

[JanetMarie]

Thanks for the update. Monitoring her crop is good. It will take a while for her to gain weight back, and it's good that she's acting normal.

 

[PrincessPollo]

Well, after a long couple of months, my Gypsy girl is back to normal! She gained over 2 pounds from the last time I posted. Her crop is still a touch saggy, but I have come to the conclusion, that this is just how she is going to be. She is eating and pooing just fine. I am hoping that with her successful recovery, that she will start to lay again...it's been about 5 months since I got an egg from her (she mini molted too). I'm not complaining because my other 4 hens who were slacking are filling my refrigerator with eggs! I just wanted to post this for anyone else who may run into the same or similar situation that I had to deal with. Thank you for all of your advice, thoughts and stories, etc! YAY GYPSY!!!

 

[rebrascora]

That is excellent news. Well done you and Gypsy.
Thanks so much for the update and I hope it will give hope to others in a similar situation.
Now that she is back up to weight, she will hopefully start laying soon but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen before spring either. She has been through a lot! My Portia, who had a similar problem (thankfully I caught it before surgery was necessary), was in the nest box laying an egg today.
You will still need to monitor her crop because, as you are aware, it has lost some of it's elasticity and will therefore most likely be prone to problems again. Now that you know to look out for it, you can hopefully take action before it becomes too bad next time. I was a little concerned about Portia the other day as it was looking rather large for my liking, so she got a bit of massage therapy and has been fine since... maybe I'm paranoid but for the sake of 5 mins manipulation every once in a while, I'd rather play safe than sorry.

Best wishes

Barbara