- May 29, 2019
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Apologies for the long post,
For context, two months ago my neighbor's dog dug underneath our fence and attacked my duck. From this, my hen sustained a leg injury that has left her with a permanent limp, but she is otherwise fine and not in pain.
Because of this injury, I've noticed that she has increasing difficulty keeping herself clean: preening, getting into the bath herself, bouts of wet feather, ect. Which has become a more imminent problem with the amount of flies in our area.
Two weeks ago I found her in the early stages of flystrike and treated her promptly with prozap and blue kote. She was kept indoors for a week. Since then, I have been monitoring her closely, giving her twice daily baths and a full dry, making sure the pen is clean and also dry, and applying strike to her backside to ward off flies.
Additionally, I've set up multiple fly traps to tackle the fly issue itself.
I'm not sure what else to do. I've been supplementing her with niacin, extra calcium, and making sure she's getting plenty of electrolytes. Her eggs are fine, she seems happy, just limited in her mobility and cleanliness. I don't want overdo the application of topicals but am afraid the issue will reappear upon the discontinuation of them.
For context, two months ago my neighbor's dog dug underneath our fence and attacked my duck. From this, my hen sustained a leg injury that has left her with a permanent limp, but she is otherwise fine and not in pain.
Because of this injury, I've noticed that she has increasing difficulty keeping herself clean: preening, getting into the bath herself, bouts of wet feather, ect. Which has become a more imminent problem with the amount of flies in our area.
Two weeks ago I found her in the early stages of flystrike and treated her promptly with prozap and blue kote. She was kept indoors for a week. Since then, I have been monitoring her closely, giving her twice daily baths and a full dry, making sure the pen is clean and also dry, and applying strike to her backside to ward off flies.
Additionally, I've set up multiple fly traps to tackle the fly issue itself.
I'm not sure what else to do. I've been supplementing her with niacin, extra calcium, and making sure she's getting plenty of electrolytes. Her eggs are fine, she seems happy, just limited in her mobility and cleanliness. I don't want overdo the application of topicals but am afraid the issue will reappear upon the discontinuation of them.
just a random thought, instead of chemical based pesticides on her, what about diatomaceous earth with neem oil, or just a little neem oil on her skin?
I've read that the chickens can eat the dead flies from the spray, but I really wouldn't want then to. But, if they did get a couple it sounds like they would be fine.
