Barely eating weeks after crop surgery

[silkienewbie93]

Hi!

One of my silkie hens recently had crop surgery performed by a vet after I discovered she had an impacted crop. By the time I noticed how bad the impaction was she was severely under weight. The vet removed about a tennis ball sized wad of straw from her crop.

After her surgery she seemed to be recovering well. She was eating and drinking again, having dust baths and just looked perkier. After her surgery she was treated with a course of antibiotics to prevent infection as well as a few days of pain meds. During recovery I kept her isolated so the others wouldn’t pick at her scab. After about 10 days she got her stitches out.

I’ve been trying to get her slowly reintroduced to the flock but so far I’m still only doing supervised visits. For some reason though she seems to be barely eating again. She’s been having very small and green poops which I know is a sign they aren’t getting enough food. But her crop is empty so it doesn’t seem like the impaction has recurred.

Does anyone have any ideas why she could be reluctant to eat again? Do you think it could be stress from being isolated from her flock?

 

[Eggcessive]

Since she was on antibiotics, her gut bacteria flora may be upset, so I would use some probiotics on her. If you haven’t wormed her recently, I would recommend giving her either Valbazen 1/4 ml orally, and again after 10 days. Or use SafeGuard 1/4 ml per pound given for 5 straight days. Will she eat some mushy wet chicken feed and soft scrambled egg? Human vitamin B complex 1/2 tablet daily crushed in a little water or food may help stimulate her appetite.

 

[silkienewbie93]

Since she was on antibiotics, her gut bacteria flora may be upset, so I would use some probiotics on her. If you haven’t wormed her recently, I would recommend giving her either Valbazen 1/4 ml orally, and again after 10 days. Or use SafeGuard 1/4 ml per pound given for 5 straight days. Will she eat some mushy wet chicken feed and soft scrambled egg? Human vitamin B complex 1/2 tablet daily crushed in a little water or food may help stimulate her appetite.

She’s not super interested in wet feed but I’ll try to offer her some scrambled egg. She’s seems to be drinking okay so I’ll add the vitamin B to her water.