- Nov 7, 2013
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Thanks for any help you can give!
I had a silkie rooster with an awful case of fly strike a couple of months ago. (Fly strike = poop stuck in the feathers, which causes sores, where flies lay eggs and then maggots take over) He lost a good lot of his skin, but he's recovering just fine and back with the flock.
Yesterday I noticed our other silike rooster had poop on his butt, but I got distracted and forgot about it. This afternoon, I noticed he was missing and sure enough he was huddled in a nesting box, his butt covered in maggots. Thank goodness his case wasn't near as bad as the first rooster. They were in his feathers, but not under skin.
Fly strike is such a rare thing that I feel like I should be looking for something else going on to make it more likely to occur. After the first outbreak, I became very good at cleaning out the boxes where the two Roos sleep every morning. I don't think this is a hygene problem.
So is it possibly a food problem? Could some particular tidbit give them poop that is more likely to stick in their feather's and attract flies? My entire flock gets to freerange for two - three hours every evening, so he could have picked something up. I get their feed from a reputable mill. This last week they did get some berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries) that were too mushy for me to eat, but not moldy. And it's possibly one my kids fed them some bread or a pancake (I remember having leftover pancakes one morning and don't remember seeing anyone throw them in the trash). What do you think - could any of that have caused a poop problem?
Rachel
Hollister, CA
I had a silkie rooster with an awful case of fly strike a couple of months ago. (Fly strike = poop stuck in the feathers, which causes sores, where flies lay eggs and then maggots take over) He lost a good lot of his skin, but he's recovering just fine and back with the flock.
Yesterday I noticed our other silike rooster had poop on his butt, but I got distracted and forgot about it. This afternoon, I noticed he was missing and sure enough he was huddled in a nesting box, his butt covered in maggots. Thank goodness his case wasn't near as bad as the first rooster. They were in his feathers, but not under skin.
Fly strike is such a rare thing that I feel like I should be looking for something else going on to make it more likely to occur. After the first outbreak, I became very good at cleaning out the boxes where the two Roos sleep every morning. I don't think this is a hygene problem.
So is it possibly a food problem? Could some particular tidbit give them poop that is more likely to stick in their feather's and attract flies? My entire flock gets to freerange for two - three hours every evening, so he could have picked something up. I get their feed from a reputable mill. This last week they did get some berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries) that were too mushy for me to eat, but not moldy. And it's possibly one my kids fed them some bread or a pancake (I remember having leftover pancakes one morning and don't remember seeing anyone throw them in the trash). What do you think - could any of that have caused a poop problem?
Rachel
Hollister, CA
