Fly Maggots

[mcostas]

I have heard of that, I am tempted to put part of a deer carcas in a bucket. Is it really saft to do?!?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just don't kiss them on the lips after they get through

 

[kendra1178]

We keep our compost in a plastic garbage can with a lid. Last summer, some meatballs accidentally got put in there. The next time I opened the lid, the inside of the can and lid were covered in maggots. It was so gross! I freaks out and tossed the lid on the ground. All the sudden, the chickens pounced on the lid of maggots. In about 2 minutes, they had completely cleaned each and every maggot off of the lid, the side of the garbage can, and the ground around it. That was about the most excited I have seen the chickens...LOL.

 

[fl_deb]

Fly maggots can carry diseases to your birds, in fact the man that once promoted the idea of the maggot bucket changed his position on it when he lost several or most of his flock to Limberneck (Botulism, he felt was from last bucket he had put up).

So there is a risk of other pathogens as well, but the worms they dig up and the lizzards

they eat also pose a risk. It depends on how comfortable you are with risking your flock wellness, as well as your own health, since if they get it, your grounds will become affected as well as eggs and/or meat from the flock.

 

[geebs]

If you have chickens and they get so much as an infected feather....(which happens often)...you are in grave danger of "flystrike"....It is deadly... Maggots are sign of very unsanitary conditions... It is best to do what you can to prevent them...Yes maggots happen from time to time...but they don't have to. DE will take care of this in dry conditions and feed through will prevent maggots from being able to grow in thier feces....Keep the food cleaned up and table scraps to a minimum. (what the birds will actually consume)...It is a hazard to house maggots. Any poopy bottoms is an invitation for case of "flystrike".

 

[Liamm_1]

wow, who has flies this time of year? I'm in N. CA, and haven't seen any in a while.....
I too would love to harvest the maggots for the chickens, but alas, it's just another project I don't have time for

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

Thank you everyone for your replies. They actually weren't the full grown maggots, they just looked like tiny thin worms. I know that my chickens don't have worms as I checked their feces to see if maybe that's what they were. I got a tad lazy and kept off cleaning out the coop because it was raining so hard (bad excuse I know!) so the coop was a little messy. We have never experienced the fly maggots with the chickens but I have seen them in my rabbit poo pile before in the summer time. I cleaned it up and the worms are gone, flys are gone also. We have flys because the chicken coop is warm, but they are gone now. I only saw two flies in the coop and that was it, we don't have a big swarm

It's too cold now!

 

[geebs]

Vanilla scented car fresheners are a deterrant for flies...

 

[cobrien]

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you probably know this but just in case - when you say you know they don't have worms because you checked their poop, does that mean you just examined it yourself? animals can have worms without them showing up in poop. the worms live in the intestines and only occasionally get expelled when still alive. the only way to test them is to take a poop sample to the vet.

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

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