Fly strike after-care questions

[olivigus]

Regina, one of my older barred rocks (6 years) is recovering from fly strike, discovered last Sunday. I got a lot of help from other threads on here around what to do. I really thought I was going to lose her that first night, but she has rallied and is alert and seeming much better overall. My questions are about her continued care. I don't even know what I'm looking at when I inspect her rump. The skin is hard and crusty, but that may just be scabbing over? She was very raw, because the others were pecking at her to get at the maggots, and there were some "pockets" where I think the maggots had started eating into her. I was able to flush them all out with warm water from the kitchen sprayer and a mild hydrogen peroxide solution in a syringe. I've bathed her several times since in warm water with some epsom salts. Have her on an antibiotic (tetracycline) in her drinking water. She is drinking and eating, although I'm having to tempt her with goodies--mostly blueberries, some scrambled egg and a few grubblies. She's not interested in a mash of pellets or even the dried pellets. Her poop has gone from very runny and yellowish to more solid and dark (still super smelly though). I've been doing my best to keep it clean around her vent, but it still gets pretty messy. I normally would have taken her to the vet by now, but the one doctor who sees chickens is moving to a new office and not reopening until June. I was even willing to drive an hour to another vet she recommended, but they're not taking new patients. I'm posting the best pictures I could get of what it looks like back there, in hopes someone can tell me if this is normal healing or there's something to worry about, and what else I could be doing. Also a pic of how she's looking overall.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think there is a lot of vent damage by the wide enlarged area. Is there any pus inside the puffy place? The warm Epsom salts soaks daily can do a lot of good. This will take some time to heal. Vitmamin D ointment, plain Neosporin, or vaseline wipould be good to apply after each soak. Many use antibiotics with flystrike, and you could still use something like Enrofloxacin (banned in chickens, and requires a month long egg withdrawal,) or something like Fish Mox amoxcillin both found online. Try offering some wet feed, a little scrambled egg bits, tuna, or other favorite treats to get her eating. Fluids are most important. Hopefully, she will recover in time.

 

[olivigus]

@Eggcessive Thanks for taking a look! There were these pockets full of maggots on either side of her vent (they were in her vent too), so I'm not surprised there's damage there. I do not see any pus in the puffy area, and it doesn't seem particularly sensitive for her when I touch it. I was inspecting a few days ago and that large bald area had cracked and a little clear liquid was coming out. That seems to have healed over now. I had backed off on the soaks until today, but I think I will start doing them again daily. I put neosporin all over the area afterward. I think there are some matted feathers still stuck to the skin, but I'm leery of picking at anything because I don't want to disturb any scabbing that's helping her heal. Fortunately, she is drinking and eating blueberries. She clucks at me and keeps trying to groom her belly feathers too, so I think that's a good sign. I will just be patient and give her time. Appreciate the advice.