Pigeon with hole in its crop

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I have a pigeon with a hole in its crop. The wound is very recent (blood wasn’t dried when I found it). I’m wondering what I should do next? (The bird is inside.)
Should I clean the wound, and if so, how? Should I use stitches, super glue, or something else to hold the crop together?
I can get the bird euthanized if there’s no other choice.

The actual hole in the crop is pretty small, but is located near the bottom of the crop. The tear in the skin is bigger, but I think that could heal without stitches?? (The yellow things in the crop are pieces of corn.)

 

[Dinoroar]

Sorry for your poor bird. I had a chicken with a similar injury. I cleaned the wound and superglued it shut. She was fine!

 

[Dinoroar]

Cleaned & sprayed with disinfectant of course too… I’m thinking after I glued the hole I also glued some feather material over it like a bandage. To help give strength to the join.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Sorry for your poor bird. I had a chicken with a similar injury. I cleaned the wound and superglued it shut. She was fine!

I’m thinking after I glued the hole I also glued some feather material over it like a bandage. To help give strength to the join.

Thank you for sharing your experience! I was thinking of super glue. How did you clean the wound?

Also, I have another question I forgot to add— do I need to give the pigeon antibiotics?

 

[Dinoroar]

Thank you for sharing your experience! I was thinking of super glue. How did you clean the wound?

Also, I have another question I forgot to add— do I need to give the pigeon antibiotics?

I used hypochlorous spray to clean it. You could probably use diluted peroxide if you had that on hand. I didnt give systemic systemic antibiotics to my chicken but it seems like a good idea. I am not familiar with pigeons at all but just sharing my experience in case it’s helpful.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I just now cleaned around the wound with hydrogen peroxide and a saline solution, though I didn’t clean inside the crop hole.

 

[Dinoroar]

I don’t think you’d have to clean inside. That area is definitely not usually a sterile environment!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

This morning, the pigeon was trying to drink and water was coming out of the crop wound. The crop was also empty of seeds. I cleaned the wound, dried it, and put on the superglue while holding the cut closed.

The pigeon started eating afterwards! I’m only worried that I put the glue where the new skin is supposed to grow. It’s more of a plug than a seal, I guess? Is that okay? (I tried not to get any glue into the actual crop.)

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Also, I noticed that the outer skin wound is looking good! Though, as I was applying the glue, I think the pigeon reopened the edge of the outer wound, which you can sort of see in the picture.

 

[Dinoroar]

I can see that in the picture where it reopened a bit but also can tell it is already starting to heal! If it were me I’d maybe put some antibiotic ointment on there now to keep that whole area moisturized a bit. On my bird I pulled the hole closed as much as possible but the glue did end up being kind of like a plug. It was the same with her where her food and water were leaking right out but the glue stopped it up. There didn’t seem to be any problem in my case with the skin healing around the glue, I hope it’s the same with your pigeon!