This morning when I let my chickens out, I noticed my favorite rooster, Slim, looked really diminished with dirty tail feathers. I thought, "Oh no, that looks like pretty bad diarrhea.." The diarrhea looked black. So I put him in a separate cage. When I examined his rear, he was covered in maggots!!! Eeewwww! I had a surgery scheduled at 10am today, so I knew I didn't have much time. When I had a spare few minutes, I went to wash the maggots off with water. Thank heavens I had rubber gloves on! There were so many maggots, I had to pick them out of his wounds. He had diarrhea caked all down the underside from his vent, so I washed it all off with baby shampoo (that's all I could think to use in such short time) and picked a whole lot of maggots from inside his flesh. Yeah, the flies were blue green, so I'm sure there were a lot of the 'bad' maggots that eat normal flesh. Anyway, after I managed to wash as much of the maggots off as I can, I had to rush off to my outpatient surgery, albeit 15 minutes late. I just couldn't leave him like that. I don't know how I mustered up enough courage to tackle the maggots. They were so gross!! But I had to. Before I left I used powder Sevin to kill flies and/or larva. That was all I had on hand that might do something. I know it is probably not good to do, but these were desperate times.
I came back from surgery to him being swarmed by a ton of flies, so I went to the local feed store and picked up some Sulmet and Duramycin as well as a perimeter fly repellant. I put the Sulmet in his water and he drank so much of it a soon as I put the waterer in the cage, so I figured he was dehydrated. When he was done, I took him and on inspection, I saw millions of (what I assume were) fly eggs on the shafts of the feathers! They weren't there before... Omg... They were everywhere. I tried washing them off but they didn't come off easily. I finally put him in a tub of warm water and dish soap to get the rest off. There were still a few eggs here and there. I cut a few feathers with chunks of eggs on them, and poured peroxide on his wounds to clean them, and then rubbed some Betadine on the wounds. I also noticed that he started gurgling like water in his lungs. I figured it must have been either water from his crop that flowed back in the wrong direction while I had him on his side or water from washing. It was getting dark, so I blow dried him mostly dry. It took forever to dry his feathers! By this time, I was hurting from the earlier surgery and I could stand no more. So I put him in a crate in the garage for the night and I went inside, took a cleansing shower and laid down. I couldn't move anymore in pain.
Later in the evening after much research online (and the pain was moderate but better), I put some antibiotic ointment on his wounds. First thing tomorrow, I'm going back to the feed store to look for some VIP or SWAT and a fly spray for dogs. But I am worried... He is gurgling and coughing pretty bad now, but his diarrhea seems to look slightly better. I never saw blood nor worms in his diarrhea. I feel like I did the best I could do. I don't have a chicken vet near me... I hope he makes it! He was eating and drinking earlier before the final wash-down.
I am working on the assumption that this was originally coccidiosis or some bacterial infection that caused the diarrhea, and the diarrhea caked on his feathers causing the flies to lay the maggots. I know this assumption could be wrong, but I'm medicating for elimination of possibilities. If anyone has any helpful tips or suggestions, please let me know. I could use some help!
I came back from surgery to him being swarmed by a ton of flies, so I went to the local feed store and picked up some Sulmet and Duramycin as well as a perimeter fly repellant. I put the Sulmet in his water and he drank so much of it a soon as I put the waterer in the cage, so I figured he was dehydrated. When he was done, I took him and on inspection, I saw millions of (what I assume were) fly eggs on the shafts of the feathers! They weren't there before... Omg... They were everywhere. I tried washing them off but they didn't come off easily. I finally put him in a tub of warm water and dish soap to get the rest off. There were still a few eggs here and there. I cut a few feathers with chunks of eggs on them, and poured peroxide on his wounds to clean them, and then rubbed some Betadine on the wounds. I also noticed that he started gurgling like water in his lungs. I figured it must have been either water from his crop that flowed back in the wrong direction while I had him on his side or water from washing. It was getting dark, so I blow dried him mostly dry. It took forever to dry his feathers! By this time, I was hurting from the earlier surgery and I could stand no more. So I put him in a crate in the garage for the night and I went inside, took a cleansing shower and laid down. I couldn't move anymore in pain.
Later in the evening after much research online (and the pain was moderate but better), I put some antibiotic ointment on his wounds. First thing tomorrow, I'm going back to the feed store to look for some VIP or SWAT and a fly spray for dogs. But I am worried... He is gurgling and coughing pretty bad now, but his diarrhea seems to look slightly better. I never saw blood nor worms in his diarrhea. I feel like I did the best I could do. I don't have a chicken vet near me... I hope he makes it! He was eating and drinking earlier before the final wash-down.
I am working on the assumption that this was originally coccidiosis or some bacterial infection that caused the diarrhea, and the diarrhea caked on his feathers causing the flies to lay the maggots. I know this assumption could be wrong, but I'm medicating for elimination of possibilities. If anyone has any helpful tips or suggestions, please let me know. I could use some help!
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