Which antibiotic for post-crop-surgery?

[tulie13]

I'm going to order some sutures from Jeffers Livestock in case we have to do the crop surgery, which is looking more and more likely. I'd also like to get some antibiotics for post-surgery recovery. What do you guys recommend? Terramycin or something else? Jeffers has a pretty big selection.

Should I get a couple of different ones to have on hand, as one might be better for certain infections? Bags of the powdered antibiotics are like $6 each, so I'd rather go ahead and get 2 or 3 different ones if it's likely I'll need them.

THANKS in advance for advice!!

Edited to add: CRAP - they are on "indefinite backorder" for Terramycin and Agrimycin (oxytetracycline HCl).

Need some good alternatives, THANKS!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm relatively new to this forum, so forgive me if this is stupid. I've been reading so many posts about people who are concerned because their chickens have swollen crops. That's what the crop is for! The crop is supposed to store the food and break it down so it can be digested! I'm sure there are times when the crop actually isn't functioning propertly, but I find it hard to believe that so many people have chickens that are really sick.

Are you doing the surgery yourself? What are you going to do, and why? I'm just curious, because in all my years of having chickens, I've never had one with a crop issue.

 

[Country4ever]

Can you get any Baytril tabs from your vet?

I had one hen who had a huge crop with no integrity left in it. I tried to support it, but it just didn't work. She eventually died from not being able to get any food past it. (then again, she may have had an obstruction downstream from the crop........who knows for sure?).
Good luck with the surgery.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
This sounds a bit like mine - like a defect of some sort that allows stuff to hang in the bottom of it. She's the only one out of 32 hens that is having problems with this.

I repeated a baking soda flush and was worried when I turned her upside-down to expel and nothing was coming out! I didn't think it would be a good thing for her to take IN all that baking soda (lots of sodium, etc.) so I turned her up again and squeezed a little bit.

Suddenly this THING came up out of her mouth in a bout of explosive liquid vomit. It was about an inch long and about 1/2 inch wide at its widest point, sort of soft, almost like a rubbery piece of scrambled egg that has dried (fresh scrambled egg would not have been anywhere near this "stiff"). I have no idea what this thing was before she ate it, but I strongly suspect it was causing the blockage.

We are in "soft food/wait and see" mode now. I really hope that was it and this clears up now!

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
If the crop is impacted or blocked, you can cut it open and remove the offending item or wad of stuff, then sew the crop back up. It IS a "last resort" type of thing, but it can be necessary to avoid the chicken dying.

Someone on here posted a few weeks ago about one of their favorite chickens acting sick/lethargic and then suddenly dying. A post-mortem revealed a large piece of broccoli stuck in the crop, apparently blocking food (and possibly liquids) from going down. Birds can't go long without nutrition.

You are right, the crop is supposed to "get big", but it's not supposed to STAY big while causing the chicken to lose its balance and puke when it falls on its chest.

And food isn't supposed to ROT in there - it's supposed to fill up the crop and go down every day. My bird couldn't even get down bread crumbs soaked in olive oil. They just sat in her crop.

I hope that big THING I got out of her was the culprit and that this will now clear up.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Quote:
If the crop is impacted or blocked, you can cut it open and remove the offending item or wad of stuff, then sew the crop back up. It IS a "last resort" type of thing, but it can be necessary to avoid the chicken dying.

Someone on here posted a few weeks ago about one of their favorite chickens acting sick/lethargic and then suddenly dying. A post-mortem revealed a large piece of broccoli stuck in the crop, apparently blocking food (and possibly liquids) from going down. Birds can't go long without nutrition.

You are right, the crop is supposed to "get big", but it's not supposed to STAY big while causing the chicken to lose its balance and puke when it falls on its chest.

And food isn't supposed to ROT in there - it's supposed to fill up the crop and go down every day. My bird couldn't even get down bread crumbs soaked in olive oil. They just sat in her crop.

I hope that big THING I got out of her was the culprit and that this will now clear up.

Gotcha! Good luck!

 

[ibpboo]

I do hope your chicken gets better now!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

tHE CROP SURGERY IS VERY NECCESSARY IF YOU HAVE BEEN FEEDING GREEN GRASS AND NO GRIT
AS IT BALLS UP IN THE CROP AND CAN'T GO THRU TO THE GIZZARD

The BYC member had to do the surgery twice on a chicken as it continued to eat cigarrete filters????

now with that said for those that do not know about the crop surgery I will post this here also the crop flushing

FLUSHING FOR SOUR OR IMPACTED CROP IS THIS

very simple
mix the 1 pt of warm water
1/2 cup of baking soda
mix good and fill a child'sd ear syringe with the baking soda water

put the chicken on the table in front of you
if there is some one to hold the chicken it is easier to do

now take the filled syringe and put it in the back of the throat of the chicken
ex[ell all the water
now lay the syringe down
take your hand and bring it up tightly against the crop of the chicken
all the while pushing on the hand to breing up the spoiled feed etc out of the crop
the chicken will not hold it back but as chickens do not vomit you are the one bringing the spoiled feed out the beak

do not turn the chicken upside down
chickens do not throw up but you have to push it out the beak


do the flushing at least three times and let the bird rest
DO NOT FEED IT FOR 24 HRS
let it rest and then only feed it
one sliced of bread soaked in milk
into the milk cut a 1000 mg capsule of Vitamin E and crush 1 tablet of selinium and mix with the soaked bread
feed this twice a day for a week

also have 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in qt of water

by now he is getting better

then you can see if he does alright on the crumble chicken feed

DO NOT FEED Him ANY WHOLE OR CRACKED GRAINS ALL THIS TIME


IF IT IS A LARGE BALL OF GRASS IT WILL NEED SURGERY
the surgery is best done when you have some one to hold the chicken on a table

I had no problem doing this as I did it on young pigeons which get large grains stuck in the crop hole

remember that there are two layers of skin to cut
the outter skin and the skin over the crop

make sure the insision is large enough to take out the large size ball of grass

then use 1 pat water and 2 parts iodine wash to clean the crop be fore stiching the flesh up again
and keep the skin flushed twice daily and it will heal


***
YOU NEED TO STUDY AND DO THIS NOW
CROP SURGERY???

AT WORST SIDE you may have to do this: A
friend of BYC made this up for impacted crop surrgery
more professional than mine

Items Needed:

Betadine solution
Isopropyl Alcohol
Gauze Pads
Razor blade or Exacto-knife
Tweezers (surgical - if available, find at Vet Supply or Pet)
Hand Towel
Sutures or Heavy weight Thread
Sharpie sewing needle that will accommodate thread
Scissors
Antibiotic ointment
access to warm water, preferably a kitchen sprayer

To perform the surgery, a "surgeon" and "assistant" are needed. The assistant holds the bird, wrapped in a hand towel,from behind being sure to keep the wings secure and unflapping.

(1. Approximately 1/3 of the way down the crop, located on the right the breast; push back the feathers and have the assistant hold the feathers away from the site. Place a few drops of betadine solution on a gauze pad and clean the dermis of the crop at the site of the incision.

(2. Wipe the area with an alcohol pad. Allow to dry.

(3. Holding the skin slightly spread, cut through the outer dermis with the cutting tool. The opening needs to be only 3/4" - 1" in length. (The incision that we made was more horizontal than vertical.) The skin is fairly tough, so you may have to apply several strokes. The tool will pass through the outer dermis and you might encounter adipose (fat) and then flesh before entering the crop.

(4. Once the crop has been opened, material may start to be seen through the opening. Place the bird over the sink and massage the crop so that the contents move towards the opening. The surgeon can grab the contents and dispose in the sink. Once the material is removed, rise the site thoroughly with warm water. Additional material may come to the surface, massage the crop to feel if there are any additional contents. (Tweezers may be needed to remove blades of grass or in our case a cigarette filter.)

-Be careful not to tear the skin around the site with the massaging.

(5. Rinse the site again. Pat dry with a gauze pad. Take a minimum of a dime size dose of antibiotic ointment and "pack" the site - lightly smearing the cream or ointment into the site.

(6. Thread your needle, cutting a 12" section of doubled thread. Knot the end, leaving a 1/2" tail. Place 3-4 stitches through the dermis, catching the lining of the crop. End the stitches with a knot on the opposite end from which you started.

(7. Allow the "patient" to recuperate isolated from the flock. Use newspaper for bedding, offer water and withhold grain. Offer plain yogurt 6-8 hours after. Yogurt and mash/grain can be offered on day 2. Water at all times.

(8. Keep an eye on the incision, being sure that there is no tearing or redness. The stitches can be removed 7 days after surgery. Apply antibiotic ointment to the site.

We put our girl back with the flock on day 4, watching her closely.

I hope that this helps for future reference.


and the surgery you probably won't need but will include
keep us posted how your helping her


email me with any questions

 

[threehorses]

The correct antibiotic for wounds in poultry are either Penicillin G Procaine (you give every OTHER DAY, not daily - injectable). Or Baytril from the vet.

In all cases give probiotics daily during medication, every other day for 2 weeks thereafter (plain yogurt will work).

Pen-G is thick, requires refrigeration (that's where you'll find it at the feedstore), and requires a thicker gauge needle to inject it correctly. You must shake it thoroughly for a couple of minutes before using to get the solution back in suspension. Don't use a 20 gauge needle - use a larger diameter (smaller numerical listing - like 16 gauge) needle.

Give no less than 4 injections over an 8 day period as the Pen-G is concentrated and works for two days per shot.

Dosage for an average adult hen is short of 1/4 cc every other day. Penicillin, the other kind, is required daily. Again Pen-G aqueous you give every other day.

 

[tulie13]

Darn, I thought about buying some of the Penicillin from Jeffers Livestock, but went ahead and placed an order on Wednesday. I was hoping that this THING that came out of her mouth was THE CULPRIT, but it seems that there is still something else blocking/slowing her down. I forget the brand name of what I got, but it's Chlorotetracycline. Think we'd be OK with that?

The offending item is definitely not "grass with no grit" as she has been on sand and dirt the whole time, and only occasionally gotten some greens thrown into the coop/run area. The rest of her food has been crumbles. Of course, that THING that came out of her mouth did not resemble anything I fed any of my chickens! They are in an enclosed coop, but it's a dirt floor. There is a tree above part of their run, dropping leaves and small twigs into it, so who knows what else is in there...