Post Crop Surgery Questions

[staceyj]

Somehow I stopped receiving notifications about this thread!

Checking in as well on you and Bonnie.

 

[CPBlaire]

I appreciate it must be a busy time for you over the pond with your holiday celebrations but just wondering how she is doing and keeping my fingers crossed for her.

Hello! Yes, it has been quite busy between nursing my hen, thanksgiving, and family just being in the house. I meant to respond yesterday but most of my family has come down with a cold so I was tending to their needs as well. I decided to withhold on cutting her back open yesterday as she seems to be doing fine for right now. I added electrolytes to her water and ran to CVS yesterday to pick up some vaginal yeast cream. I tried adding it to her food, but she wouldn't eat it. I had to resort to using my finger to put it in her mouth so she would eat it. I think she is a bit depressed being in the dog cage, so this morning I moved her cage back to the coop so she could be around the others. Immediately after her surgery, she had a couple dry and firm poops, and then they turned into water wet poops. But as of today, her poops are back to being mostly dry firm ones. I hope this is also a good sign on the road to recovery. I'll continue to monitor her. I still have the antibiotics, but I am shying from giving her those for now as I'm afraid it will make the sour crop part worse. I also meant to weigh her yesterday but my digital scale battery went out. Go figure ...

Again thank you for all your help. I truly appreciate all the advice I've gotten from you and the others. I hope one day I'll have enough experience under my belt to offer those who need it when they find themselves in a bit of a pickle like myself. I am still amazed that I actually tried doing the surgery! LOL, I thought having an egg bound chicken might be the worst I would have dealt with! If this ever happens again, I'm sure to be prepared with more supplies. My chicken first aid kit has grown exponentially with all my recent online orders and runs to TSC. I'm even prepared for a chicken with ascites now.

 

[staceyj]

Thanks so much for the update!
Fingers crossed she continues to improve!

 

[CPBlaire]

Thanks so much for the update!
Fingers crossed she continues to improve!

Thanks StaceyJ! I hope so too!

 

[Eggcessive]

Your scales may just need a new battery—I just had to pick one up. Glad she is doing well. Thanks for the update.

 

[CPBlaire]

Hello! It's been a few days since my last update. On Monday (8 days after surgery), I went to remove my hens stitches as the incision seemed to be healing well from the outside. I was surprised to find that her skin hadn't healed together, and as I began cleaning the area with some rubbing alcohol, her skin began to open up more. All I could see was brown gunk and what looked to be like food. My initial thoughts were 'holy cow, this looks like dead tissue and her crop must be leaking!'.
I called my mom to see if she could help me the next day, but she couldn't get to place until yesterday evening. So last night, with a lot of dread in my heart, we decided to re-enter the incision site to clean and close. It was gross. We began removing all the brown gunk and washing the area with saline. For a moment we weren't sure what was going on with the crop, but after several more saline rinses, we could finally see it. I was surprised to see that the incision we made into the crop during the first surgery was almost closed. The hole was tiny, but we decided to give it one stitch using cotton thread. After we did this, we cut the edges of skin again and began to stitch those up while being mindful to leave the bottom open for drainage. That last part was extremely difficult as she now had scar tissue.
As of this morning my girl seems to be doing well, however I think her crop is beginning to go back to being impacted. She doesn't seem to have that 'sour crop' bad breath, but I feel like all the trauma I've put her through was for nothing. Is this normal?

 

[Mylied]

Hello! It's been a few days since my last update. On Monday (8 days after surgery), I went to remove my hens stitches as the incision seemed to be healing well from the outside. I was surprised to find that her skin hadn't healed together, and as I began cleaning the area with some rubbing alcohol, her skin began to open up more. All I could see was brown gunk and what looked to be like food. My initial thoughts were 'holy cow, this looks like dead tissue and her crop must be leaking!'.
I called my mom to see if she could help me the next day, but she couldn't get to place until yesterday evening. So last night, with a lot of dread in my heart, we decided to re-enter the incision site to clean and close. It was gross. We began removing all the brown gunk and washing the area with saline. For a moment we weren't sure what was going on with the crop, but after several more saline rinses, we could finally see it. I was surprised to see that the incision we made into the crop during the first surgery was almost closed. The hole was tiny, but we decided to give it one stitch using cotton thread. After we did this, we cut the edges of skin again and began to stitch those up while being mindful to leave the bottom open for drainage. That last part was extremely difficult as she now had scar tissue.
As of this morning my girl seems to be doing well, however I think her crop is beginning to go back to being impacted. She doesn't seem to have that 'sour crop' bad breath, but I feel like all the trauma I've put her through was for nothing. Is this normal?

I'm sorry to say that it seems the crop gets damaged and loses muscle tension from impaction. What happened with my girl is I fixed her crop. She impacted within a couple weeks. Fixed it again. It was pendulous at this point. I tried the bras. Didn't help. She impacted again. While I was deciding whether to euthanize or try again, she passed. I have not heard of a success story where the chicken didn't have a pendulous crop and problems. So I think it's good to try but I'm not sure how long term effective it is.

 

[CPBlaire]

I'm sorry to say that it seems the crop gets damaged and loses muscle tension from impaction. What happened with my girl is I fixed her crop. She impacted within a couple weeks. Fixed it again. It was pendulous at this point. I tried the bras. Didn't help. She impacted again. While I was deciding whether to euthanize or try again, she passed. I have not heard of a success story where the chicken didn't have a pendulous crop and problems. So I think it's good to try but I'm not sure how long term effective it is.

I'm sorry to hear your hen passed. I don't think I'd be able to get the bras to work either. After doing the surgery, I tried fitting her with an ace bandage wrap and she just squirmed her way out.

 

[casportpony]

It's been my experience that unless the crop is impacted with grass, the problem is not with the crop, but something in the abdominal cavity. Things like cancer, bacterial infection, worms, and salpingitis can obstruct the intestines, which will cause the crop to appear impacted. You could try tubing fluids, de-worming, or antibiotics and see if that helps clear the crop.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with others about crop problems being a chronic problem or one related to other conditions. I never saw a crop problem in my first 5 years, but since then with aging birds, I have never seen one recover. When the crop is emptied, the impaction reccurs, and usually becomes full blown sour or infected within several weeks. On those hens who died or were put down, necropsies showed internal laying, egg yolk peritonitis, oviduct cancer, or ascites.