Cayuga: Unknown death, weird stuff on skin

[DuckDaddyDave]

So three days ago one of my Cayuga started acting listless. She was just staring at the side of the house from a few inches away and didn’t move when we picked her up(She normally runs away and does not like to be touchehe normally runs away and does not like to be touched).

she seemed a little better yesterday, but today when I came home from work I found her dead. When I inspected her for signs of injury, I found what looks almost like larvae made of wood on her underbelly. Nothing moving or wriggling, almost like masses of dead parasites, But they don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before. It may not even be parasites, but some sort of skin condition.
but they don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before. Also possible that whatever is on her appeared after she died.
My ducks have a couple pools which are generally change daily, occasionally one sits overnight and is changed the next day. They’re eating Dumor 16% layer feed, And have niacin supplements added to the water. They are allowed to forage throughout the yard during the day.

At this point I’m kind of stumped, and concerned for the health of my other two ducks. We’d be very upset if they died to because of something preventable.

 

[Isaac 0]

They look like Maggot eggs to me.

Do you still have her body?

 

[DuckDaddyDave]

They look like Maggot eggs to me.

Do you still have her body?

Not exactly, I buried her far away from the rest of the flock.

 

[Isaac 0]

Not exactly, I buried her far away from the rest of the flock.

I asked, because she may have had flystrike, you should have been able to tell by looking around her vent area. If you lose another bird, it would be wise to send its body to your state veterinary necropsy lab. Some states offer it for free or for a minimal free.

Here are links,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures.799747/

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Yes, they look like fly eggs in big clumps, probably happened after she died. Usually you can smell a bird with flystrike. It literally smells like rotting flesh/ death. But feathers can cover a lot of wounds, so... poor thing

 

[DuckDaddyDave]

I asked, because she may have had flystrike, you should have been able to tell by looking around her vent area. If you lose another bird, it would be wise to send its body to your state veterinary necropsy lab. Some states offer it for free or for a minimal free.

Here are links,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures.799747/

I did check her vent, it was clean. nothing noteworthy. The deeper I dug into the feathers, the more I found, but only on the underbelly. Hopefully laid after she died, there were fly's all over. Thanks for the link, I hope I don't have to use it.

 

[DuckDaddyDave]

Yes, they look like fly eggs in big clumps, probably happened after she died. Usually you can smell a bird with flystrike. It literally smells like rotting flesh/ death. But feathers can cover a lot of wounds, so... poor thing

Yeah, she didn't really smell at all. We were hoping it was heatstroke, Its been 90+ for days.