Chicken Flesh Eating Disease? Warning-Graphic pics

[Reurra]

Call yuor local vet, they should know.

Maybe it was a heat rash that went bad and infected? That sure is perplexing!

Im sorry for the loss of your baby

 

[chickletranch]

i'm so sorry for your loss. i've never seen anything like her lesions, so would be curious to know the cause.

i also wanted to recommend a spray that has saved several of my birds - CATRON IV. it's a foamy spray for wounds you can buy online from many vet/animal supply sites. you can spray it directly on wounds as a maggot preventative or use it on wounds that are infested. it usually kills all of the maggots upon first application. we've had an unusual number of flystrike cases over the past two years and Catron has literally been a lifesaver!

lynn

 

[Sylvestor12]

Maggots are horrible! My hen had flies on her bum and I didn't find out until it was too late. The image that gave me will forever stay in my mind. Now I have a phobia of them that's totally blown out of proportion but I can't help it.

 

[Sylvestor12]

I talked to Speckledhen which has LOADS of expierence, couldn't give anything on it. I'm trying the other people now too, so sorry for your little darling!

 

[Kuvasz]

I know this thread is a year old, BUT, I just lost my favorite hen just now, hysterically crying as I type this. Came inside to google 'chicken with flesh eating bacteria", and found this thread. My hen was a standard beautiful buff brahma,....very fat. And due to a hawk attack from years ago, she has a broken tail....so waddling around wasn't something unusual with her. Last night she was hungry, and ate, and hopped up on the roosting pole, and I petted her goodnight when I locked the coop. This morning, he was huddled up on the ground in the corner and wouldn't come out. I picked her up and noticed moisture on her rump. She let me turn her over, and she had the most godawful 'wound' I've ever seen!! And stinky, and invested with maggots!! I poured a bottle of peroxide over it, and took off to the store to buy more, and try to find some electrolytes for chickens, can back and she was DEAD!! Upon examining her, I've never seen such a horrible looking sight in all my life, and as you mention, one I'll never forget. I sprayed her with bug spray to kill some maggots so I could see what was up...it almost looked like a gunshot wound, but upon further looking, seems she had an infection going on in or around her vent, and just full of maggots. Sorry for all the description. All the other skin around it is just horrible looking too and it happened SO FAST that it made me think skin eating bacteria. GRRRROOOOSSSSSSSSSS...and now I'm totally freaked out. The smell coming from her in incomprehensible...like she's rotting. I am just really torn up over this...all other chickens seem fine.....I'm so freaked out. Did anyone find out any more about this chicken fromlast year? did yoaur others get it? did YOU get it??? I'm washing my hands and arms like a fool, and hysterically crying my eyes and heart out on top of it.... I'm so sad. Any further thoughts on this please?

 

[Eggcessive]

I think I have read about this in posts before being described as "fly strike." I may be wrong, but I think that your hen may have had an area near the vent, either pecked, vent gleet, or a prolapse that became infested with fly larvae. Since it is that horrible time of year when flies are everywhere, she may have just been overcome with maggots--it may not be any "flesh-eating" bacteria at all--just something as simple as flies.

 

[seminolewind]

It sounds like that flesh eating staph aureus. I would put her on antibiotics for staph, and I have to say that I had it on my leg. A zit that must have gotten scratched, and the sore got bigger and bigger even with ointment. The thing that made it do away, was that I visited my parents and I was in the pool a lot. Then my father told me to put some peroxide on it. It cleared up in days.

Maybe there's some kind of dip to treat her skin. But she needs antibiotics.

 

[Sylvestor12]

Maggots can get into anything where there's nourishment and moisture. Of all of my maggot cases, they came from my hens' bums having wet poop stuck all over. That's what a maggot would need so flies would lay the eggs.
I have found the best way to kill them is using Prozap Screw Worm Spray. I'm not sure where you live but places like TSC should have it. I recently found out that Hydrogen Peroxide is a bad thing to put on wounds that touch internal tissue because it can break them down. When I ran into my first maggots case, nothing killed them except this. I used Hp, Iodine, light squirts with the water hose, but only this worked. The funny thing about it is that the formula is blue so your hen will have a colorful butt after you spray them.
The best way to prevent the maggots is to sorta scan all of your chickens when they roost at night to make sure that they don't have a wet, dirty, diarrhea bum and if they do to wash it off ASAP. Plus, once you get to know all of your bird's normal behavior, you can look for signs of slowness, lethargy and the like to check them if something is wrong. In my last maggot case, I never smelt anything but when I was throwing out some berry treats, she was going slow at it like she wanted it but was just too tired. So I ran up as quick as I could because of past experiences were I've been too late and I immediately smelt that smell. I knew what I was looking for so I turned her to her butt and saw some blood. After moving some feathers out the way with a stick you could imagine a small pocket of them. Trust me, if this your first maggot case you felt like I did. In fact, I haven't told anyone but my whole body was trembling when we had to treat her. Anyway, this was a smaller wound because I caught it early. When it comes to maggots, they can go through LOTS of tissue in a day so the earlier you find this, the better. We didn't have the Prozap on hand at the house so my dad made a quick trip to Southern States the next day since we weren't able to go that day. So once I got a hold of it, I got the hen and tried my best to spray every inch of that wound. The maggots fell of eventually after a few minutes and she stayed kinda slow but she is now on her way to recovery as I typed this. Sorry this was so long and so descriptive but I want to put my knowledge out there. So sorry about your girl!

It wasn't your fault and don't ever beat yourself up! I'm sure you can save the life of the next bird to get this problem!

 

[floody]

hi.
i just found your post. i have a 6 month old chinese silkie that has what your chicken had. how did you go with your chicken.
thanks andrew

 

[floody]

Hi. My silkie has recovered. I did not wash her. I treated her with terramycin pinkeye powder, broad spectrum antibiotic. Once everyday till cleared up.Just thourght you should know. For any other people who find this problem with there chickens