chickens ate maggots

[mothergoosefivegoslings]

my chickens have eaten maggots and are dieing slowly! my uncle used to give his turpintine when his ate them but i dont know how much to give. dos anyone know about how much to give to each chicken? help please if you can.

 

[krissteff]

What are they doing that suggests they are dying? I thought chickens could eat maggots and they would be like a nice treat, just like other bugs. Perhaps I am mistaken, though. ?? I wouldn't know anything about feeding turpentine to chickens, but I would think that could be extremely dangerous.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I would not give my chickens turpentine, you need to get the advice of a veterinarian, I doubt that maggots are what is killing your chickens, where did they get the maggots? where they on a dead animal that may have died from what is now infecting your chickens? What symptoms are your chickens having? More information is needed, but read the label on your turpentine and it will probably say do not ingest this poison,,

 

[mothergoosefivegoslings]

chickens eat the maggots and they lose weight very rapidly until they get so weak they cant stand or eat and then they die.

 

[Cetawin]

The cause has to come from whatever the maggots were on and ingested. Maggots in of themselves will not kill the birds but if they carry a bacteria, virus, etc etc from whatever they ingested, they could pass it to the birds when the birds eat them and it affect the birds. Especially when you are dealing with something that is a normal parasitic explsoure the birds would come in contact with otherwise. Mine have eaten maggots never lost one as a result. Trust me they will eat a lot worse than a maggot and survive. hahahahaha You should take one of the sickest birds to the state lab and let them put the bird down and test it....find out what is really going on.....or a vet. Good luck to you. I think the state lab is much much cheaper too. But it is best for them to get the bird live and put it down for testing, but you can refrigerate it and take it to them.....just give them a call and ask.

 

[Imp]

It has been posted in the past that eating maggots can lead to botulism poisoning. There are some flushes you can use with botulism.
I agree with Cetawin, you need to find out what the problem is first. The maggots seem unlikely.

Good luck,
Imp

 

[pgpoultry]

My chickens eat any maggots that they can find and are very healthy free rangers.

About 6 weeks ago we found a sheep with 'fly strike'.....maggots in the fleece and skin which usually starts in a small cut. The area affected was large....all the way around the body at the rear. We sheered the fleece off prior to treating the area with iodine. The chickens gleefully ate the thousands of maggots. 6 weeks on all are very well....sheep included.

I don't encourage them with maggots, but they do find a lot in the summer months.

 

[Tiss]

I wouldn't worry about them. Last winter, someone struck a deer up by our mailbox. All the creepy crawlies on it were irresistible to my flock. Every time I turned my back, the stinkers were up by the road (where they do NOT belong). I finally had to load that deer into a wheelbarrow and bring the "buffet" to them.

It didn't make any of my birds sick. The deer is long gone, but my chickens are still fat and sassy half a year later.

 

[amgreen1980]

We found maggots just this week under the waterer. It sits on a tray, on blocks, about a foot off the floor of the coop. I assume the chickens have been eating them, but I don't know for sure. I don't really know where they are coming from. Do you guys have suggestions of how to get rid of them? I plan on cleaning out the hay in the coop tomorrow and putting fresh down. Can I put something on the floor of the coop? I thought I could maybe spray bleach water on the floor and give it the day to dry out before letting the chickens back in. We DO plan to put linoleum in, just havent been able to afford it yet. The chicken house is only a few months old.