How to feed after crop incision?

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elmdene

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Flossie, my little pekin, finally had her crop incised this evening after several weeks of oil and massage of her impacted crop, to no avail. Also tried to empty it with liquid paraffin and tipping her upside down but neither myself or the vet could get anything to come out. Poor little thing is so weak and thin (her breast bone is quite raw it protrudes so much - she has gone from 835g in the summer to 450g), incision seemed the only option. What came out didn't seem as fibrous as I had expected - some bits of feather and grass, but mainly food - mash, corn and mealworms, which makes me worried that the reason for the blockage may be something else. Also her crop was very low down which I guess may be a problem in the future if it doesn't regain its elasticity.

However I can only hope that she will pull through and would appreciate any advice on how/what to feed her over the next few days/week. She is on antibiotics so probiotic yoghurt is no good at the moment. Should I just give her very watery mash? Not sure whether she will want to eat or drink of her own accord (I have just put a bowl of water in with her for now) or whether I will have to syringe it into her to start with? What about vitamins or tonic? I have some Poultry Nutri-drops but they were opened last year and say they should only be used for 6 months after opening. She is sitting in a box by the aga feeling very sorry for herself so any advice from you lovely people out there would be gratefully received.
 
you could try some boiled rice, warm bran mash, cooked polenta(boiled), growers mash, shredded(or blended) wheat grass or spinach, egg yolks, poultry probiotics etc. There's no reason why you can't replenish good bacteria with probiotics whilst on them. some will survive. I wouldn't force feed her personally. just see if you can get her to eat on her own. you may find she picks up a bit now that she's not in discomfort. Did the vet not advise you as to feed her for convalescence?
 
Hi Elmdene. Hope it does sort her out. You think it may be something else and it could be impacted gizzard if you have had no response to impacted crop treatment, but lets hope not. They can swallow fruit stones (ours did damsons) or bits of metal or plastic. If fruit stones they will wear down if the hen is kept moving. It's a balance act between movement and continuing weight loss. Took us a month, with the hen in the dining room and let out for 1 hour per day with her friends, before the solids coming out in the poos were large enough to know it had cleared. She is fully recovered now and eats far too much! We've had permission from the Council (Conservation Area) to, because they are a risk to our livestock, cut the damson trees down. Surprised me a bit that did.

We've got another one now -her daughter with the same symptoms, just after the damsons have fallen. Might be a Buff Orpington strain trait. The maggots are picking her up but the crop still remains hard and if she looses more weight and gets more droopy she's in the sick cage for the same treatment as her Mother. Will bring her in for a poo check tomorrow. Easy done. One look at Bottom the cockerel charging towards her and.......plop.
 
Thanks for that Bertie and the Chooks - excuse my ignorance but what exactly is bran mash? I have growers pellets - could soak them in water - or would chick crumbs (soaked) be better? The 2 chicken vets were both off today so it was a bit of a learning curve for the vet I had, but she was great.
Thanks for the advice re impacted gizzard Chris. The mind boggles at having Flossie resident in the dining room for a month!! Can't think of what fruit stones she might have eaten - we have apples, crab apples and cherries in the garden, but she is certainly the real forager of the four - always digging away.
 
elmdene said:
Thanks for that Bertie and the Chooks - excuse my ignorance but what exactly is bran mash? I have growers pellets - could soak them in water - or would chick crumbs (soaked) be better? The 2 chicken vets were both off today so it was a bit of a learning curve for the vet I had, but she was great.
Thanks for the advice re impacted gizzard Chris. The mind boggles at having Flossie resident in the dining room for a month!! Can't think of what fruit stones she might have eaten - we have apples, crab apples and cherries in the garden, but she is certainly the real forager of the four - always digging away.
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milled bran, poultry spice or mineral salts, bit of soya oil or flax seed oil if you want, and hot water to make a fluffy mash. Add water slowly you want it a bit like thick porridge. let cool enough to put your finger in and serve. this should help her digest and bulk her up while she's under weight. Don't feed it too often though only a couple times a week. you can do the same with growers mash as an alternative or with boiled mashed rice. :) hope this helps.
 
Just to say that, very sadly, Flossie died in my arms this morning.
I'm at a bit of a loss - yesterday she seemed relatively ok and was eating and drinking a little. Last night I gave her her first lot of antibiotics since the vet's injection, by syringe, and she seemed fine. This morning she was so weak and had pooed lots of dark green poo with a lot of liquid overnight. I tried to give her her morning dose of antibiotic but she couldn't even swallow. I don't know whether maybe the antibiotic was too strong (2mls Baytril 2.5% oral), whether the room was too hot for her yesterday, whether I didn't get enough food into her yesterday evening or what.
She did have 2 other things that were odd. I noticed a few months ago that one of her pupils was much smaller than the other, but she didn't have a greyed iris as in Mareks. (Basil my cockerel also has a smaller pupil). Also over the last several days at least, she seemed to have a problem with her left leg which she seemed to be holding up close to her body. I tried to get her to stand yesterday but she couldn't. I inspected the leg and there were no apparent problems. It's not held forward or back as in Mareks, and anyway she was about 18 months old and I thought Mareks affects very young birds? Do you think it's worth getting an autopsy? There's no way I'd cull my other 6 birds if they turned out to have something though - they're family.
I'm so sad - I've only had my chickens just over a year and Flossie laid me my first ever egg....
 
Really sorry...you tried so hard for her, I don't think anyone could have done more :cry: :cry:

It could be that the poor thing had some sort of disease developing tumours, this often can put pressure on the nerves leading down the leg. Very,very difficult to diagnose.

At the end of the day she had a super life with you, whatever the illness, sometimes these things sadly happen.
 
Oh no I'm so so sorry.

If you fed her some spinach or grass that could have been the reason for the green poo, otherwise it could have been her liver or pancreas poisoning her :( or just that she was starved and wasn't receiving any of the food you gave her and it was undiluted bile.

If you can afford it I would get an autopsy personally. But it's your choice, just be sure you don't freeze her and you let them do the autopsy before as freezing and can alter the tissue and make it difficult to diagnose and send off tissue samples.

As Foxy said she was so so lucky to have you, i'm so sorry for your loss after all this. :(
 
I'm so sorry for your loss(I was following this tread)It is possible that she had suffered from some kind of ilness as you said in the biggining that her crop was't to compacted when the vet had made surgerry.You had given her best care possible so just let her rest forever in hen's heaven.
 
Thanks for all your kind words. I have buried Flossie under a bush where she always used to hide from me when I was trying to pick her up! After having held her while she was having her crop incised I couldn't bear the thought of the poor little thing being carved up again.
I'm going to start being a really nervous mum again. Now I'm worried about Flossie's sister Myrtle (the one whose crop didn't appear to fill - it does now but not as much as before - someone suggested it could have become detached?). She has got quite small and is uncharacteristically withdrawn at the moment. Hopefully this is due to the effort of growing lots of new feathers and not whatever Flossie may have had. Fingers crossed.
 
And just to add that no I hadn't given her any grass or spinach, just very moist growers pellets soaked in water. Her poo looked a bit like spinach though so I guess it had a lot of bile in it - or is that yellow? Her crop hadn't emptied overnight either. Poor little thing - I almost wish I hadn't had to put her through the operation at the vet now but it seemed the only option at the time. Thanks again.
 
elmdene said:
And just to add that no I hadn't given her any grass or spinach, just very moist growers pellets soaked in water. Her poo looked a bit like spinach though so I guess it had a lot of bile in it - or is that yellow? Her crop hadn't emptied overnight either. Poor little thing - I almost wish I hadn't had to put her through the operation at the vet now but it seemed the only option at the time. Thanks again.
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heavy poultry bile is green. :cry:
 
Very sorry to hear this Elmdene. You tried hard and her luck ran out. It sounds like impacted gizzard with a secondary infection but as was said it could also have been tumours blocking things up and causing slight paralysis -Lymphoid Lucosis- for which there is no cure.
 
Hi Elmdene,
Try not to worry too much at this stage about Mrytle, I know it's hard! Some of my hens are looking soooo miserable at the moment with the moult :(
I am glad you buried her, I have a stand of beautful silver birch where I buried my favourite cockbird, he used to take his ladies there to sunbathe and scratch around. Then two of his wives died and I have buried them with him, always makes me smile to think he is still there.
 
So sorry to hear you lost one of your little girls Elmdene, I thought I was going to lose one of mine a couple of weeks ago. She pulled through but I'm on tenterhooks with them now...constantly worried about what they're up to! I hope all is well with your other girls...I'll be thinking of them!
 
Oh that's sad, you tried so hard to keep her with you. It was obviously just not meant to be.
Loads of hugs coming your way , best remedy for this is a cuddle from one of your other birds... they will make you smile soon again x
 
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