Diaries of a House Chicken Part 5: Sleep Away Camp

Tuesday morning Poppy and Chickie Daddy headed back to the vet office for the next step in our diagnosis plan. Due to when the vet could see her and the fullness of her crop, they were unable to start any of the process and we all decided* that her spending the night was the best plan to start everything early the next morning.

Wednesday was a day full of anxiety, but by lunch time we decided that no news from the vet meant all was going as planned, and there were no updates worth passing along. Finally near the end of the day we got an update that the crop clean out was successful and that she had been given the barium but it was moving slower than they expected. The barium would then be tracked to see where the slowdown or block was in her digestive track.

Thursday morning we got the news that once the barium passed her crop it moved through her system at normal rates. Since the hold up was in the crop, we agreed to have them surgically enter her crop to see what they could find. What they found? A large mass of straw, which typically chickens would be able to pass. They also took a biopsy but those results wouldn’t be available for about a week. Her crop was still a little distended so once again, she was kept at the vet for formula feeding and observation.

Friday our girl is coming home! The vet tech patiently explained everything to us and answered all our questions. She told us where we’d find the incision if Poppy would let us a take a peak at her featherless skin. Meds in hand, we loaded up Poppy and brought her home for several more days of house chickening as we await the biopsy results.

*That doesn’t mean we were all happy about it, but it’s what was best for our Poppy.