Following an impacted crop operation.....

[Henrietta]

....my large black Nero hen has recovered well. Luckily I discovered what was changing her behaviour and causing very wet poo in time - although it was an "emergency" op. She was operated on the week before Christmas, and as soon as she was sewn up (and sprayed with antiseptic silver - a very festive touch!!) she was up and eating. Having said that, I kept her in and she did the most horrible smelly black fibrous "do" the next day. ( I discovered some couch grass just poking through the edge of their large run......and assume this must have been responsible as she must have got hold of it - as all "greens" given to the girls are chopped up). She now seems to drink more than before and although her poos do contain solids, they remain much much wetter than normal. The vet saw her a week after the op, but this "after effect" wasn't really apparent at that point. Does anyone have experience of this op.....could it be kidney damage? She seems well in herself, eating (and she is head of my flock of 8 girls) and she quickly reestablished her position at the top of the pecking order.

 

[chickenfan]

Hi Henrietta,

Yes, I had two birds with impacted crop operations, one carried out by my vet who bodged it and killed the bird, and one carried out by BHWT Vet that recovered slowly as it seemed to take her system a long time to recover. I'm glad to hear Nero is making good progress. I'm sure its really good for her to drink lots, and yes, their digestion takes quite a while to get right. Avipro Avian probiotics are a great help.

 

[Henrietta]

Thank you for responding. That's really helpful. Sorry to hear about your chicken who died. I was warned that because the op is carried out under local anaesthetic that chicken's do sometimes die of "shock". (By the way what is BHWT?). Buttercup is still looking perky, drinking lots and eating well.

 

[Beckyy]

Hi Henrietta,

One of our girls recently had this op and she had some very watery poos following, however I put this down to the liquid paraffin we were told to give her twice daily for 5 days after. Her poos were back to normal between the doses of paraffin though.

A few weeks on I'm concerned we're now experiencing the same thing as her crop is rather large today and she's behaving the same. Just wondering how your girl is doing?