Post-op care after crop surgery. Hen not gaining weight.

[Sally PB]

Sending positive waves. Thanks for taking care of her.

 

[RumneyRoost]

Update

So with the cold weather that we were having and her low weight I decided to go with the third option and just keep her in the garage 24/7.
I noticed the tiniest scab at the bottom of the incision Thursday morning, by Friday night it had grown a little. She wasn't eating much on her own, tube feeding was keeping her going at that point. I figured as a last ditch effort I would start her on antibiotics.
She was pretty exhausted, but started perking back up Saturday morning.

Yesterday she ate a fair bit of soupy chicken food mixed with exact baby bird food on her own. Today she's been excited about mealworms and sprouts. Picking at her regular feed. She's gained a bit of weight, back over 3lbs now.
I'm back to work for the next three days so she'll be tube fed first thing in the am and left with water and different foods. She can go to roost at 4:30pm and can digest whatever she picked at through the day. Then another tube feeding before I go to bed.
She's settling in to the garage, and is getting used to being handled. She doesn't appear as stressed as she did a month ago when this all started. I think I'll just keep her inside until she's back up over 4lbs and eating well on her own.

 

[LaFleche]

You could feed her scrambled eggs with millet and grated carrots, adding some fine oatmeal and germ oil to nurse her back to a healthy weight.

And don't forget to supply grit for proper digestion.

She might enjoy the company of a mild tempered, rather friendly hen as most chicken feel insecure and stressed all alone.

 

[RumneyRoost]

You could feed her scrambled eggs with millet and grated carrots, adding some fine oatmeal and germ oil to nurse her back to a healthy weight.

And don't forget to supply grit for proper digestion.

She might enjoy the company of a mild tempered, rather friendly hen as most chicken feel insecure and stressed all alone.

Oh believe me, I've tried nearly every food that's edible to chickens. She's being very picky. No interest in eggs. Casually picks at wet/canned cat food. She goes through spurts with the meal worms, one days she'll eat as many as she can, the next day she only wants a few. Yesterday and today she went nuts for sprouts. Her appetite is slowly coming back.
She has also had access to grit the entire time.

I'm thinking that she may have had a low grade infection brewing that she wasn't able to kick on her own. She's had three days of antibiotics and while her weight hasn't increased much, she appears to be feeling much better. Her crop is also emptying completely now.

There is one hen that I could bring in with her. But she's molting right now, and I certainly don't to stress her out either.
I was hoping to get the easter egger's weight back up around 4lbs before moving her out to a small quarantine coop/run that I can place beside the other girls. That way she can get out of the snow and wind, but can still see them. I just have to convince my electrician boyfriend to install another outlet so I can heat her water.

 

[RumneyRoost]

Final update.

Miss Echo had decided that the only foods worthy of excitement were sprouts and watermelon...hard to gain weight on that diet.
We had a couple mild days so I put her out in the small quarantine coop with a friend, still no interest in eating actual food.

It was a difficult decision to cull as she was still very perky, hopping on and off her roost, lots of talking, and came running for sprouts and watermelon.
After culling I decided to do a home necropsy. I regret not taking pictures as everything was easily visualized since she had no adipose tissue. Anyway, I'm glad I did it.
The mid section of her oviduct was black and necrotic, it basically fell apart in my hands. Inside that necrotic tissue was a piece of soft egg shell. I'll never know if she stopped laying because of the infection, or if she stopped laying when she started to molt and this was an unfortunate hiccup as her reproductive system slowed down.
Otherwise her organs all looked healthy, no evidence of tumours, etc. The incision from her crop surgery had healed beautifully.
As far as treatment, I did everything possible. Short of putting her on antibiotics back when she stopped laying, but at the time there was no indication. And I'm glad that I made the decision to cull before she got septic and really felt awful.

It's possible that she hasn't been feeling well for awhile and decided two months ago that the only foods worth eating were grass/sprouts/watermelon, resulting in her gorging herself back in November and ending up with the impaction. She has always had access to grit, but I didn't find any in her gizzard. Hopefully my other girls are consuming it and not just throwing it around.

 

[LaFleche]

I am sorry she was not able to recover.

Thank you for the detailed update. It is always good to find the reason why all the efforts in caring remain unsuccessful.

 

[micstrachan]

Aww... I’m so sorry for your loss and applaud you for making the right decision regarding culling, despite how difficult a decision it might have been.