Black Bottom...Gross! What's wrong with my poor hen? Graphic photo...beware

[bonsha]

My red comet has not been herself for the past week. I thought she may be egg bound so I bathed her in Epsom salt for about 30 minutes and massaged her vent area. I feel something hard but I'm not real sure what I'm feeling for. Anyway, I noticed her bottom is all black, raised and goopy. I saw 2 maggots also! Here is a picture of her behind. What is wrong? I have 4 others hens that are all healthy. I notified her butt was messy over the past week....I wish I had checked sooner. Does anyone know what is wrong?

 

[Eggcessive]

She could have fly strike. Go to the top of this page to the search box and enter "fly strike" for many threads to read with advice. Epsom salt soaks pulling off as many maggots as you can find will help. You may need to scrub the blackened areas which may be necrotic or dead skin. Do this once daily. There are products such as SWAT to apply to areas to help keep away flies. Keep any vent area trimmed and cleaned of droppings in warm weather to prevent this. It's hard to tell from your picture, but she may have suffered a prolapsed vent which can also accompany egg binding, but not always. This will also attract flies and pecking.

 

[bonsha]

Yes, you are correct....it's definitely fly strike. Should I isolate her from the rest of my hens? I don't see a "cavity" or open sores like some other posts that I saw. So maybe I caught it early enough...but it is digusting. Thank you for your advice. My poor girl. I am going to scrub that coop tomorrow and put sevin on my infected hen.

 

[enola]

If she has fly strike, the flies need to be cleaned off/out ASAP. Fly strike has the potential to kill your hen in a very short time.

 

[Eggcessive]

The maggots can be up inside her, and can definitely kill her if they aren't removed by bathing in dish detergent and water or epsom salts. Tweezers or whatever tools you can use may be necessary. I hope you can save her. Please update us.

 

[bonsha]

I did not see any open red sores, just the necrosis a couple of inches below her vent. Should I try to remove the black skin and goopy stuff or will that hurt her more...should I just try to let that heal on its own? I will continue to give her epsom soaks unless someone can suggest a better type of soaking method; and will continue to look for maggots. I didnt see anymore around the necrosis and dont think there are any in her vent. Is there a way to check her vent to make sure it is clean...like a little enema with saline or something? My poor girl!

 

[enola]

Does she has damaged/decomposing skin below her vent?

 

[enola]

I am not sure Epsom salt soaks are helping. I think I would be cleaning her once a day with betadine and then applying antibiotic ointment. You should probably trim all of the feathers that are touching her wound.

 

[bonsha]

The decomposing skin is about 1 1/2 - 2 inches below her vent. There are no feathers on that area - just that goopiness which could be feathers matted...not sure and I am nervous to cut it if it is actually skin. I will get a betadine or something similar. Would it hurt her if I inject a little betadine into her vent with a syringe? Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[enola]

Do not use betadine internally. The feathers I am talking about are any feathers that can touch any of the damaged skin.