Fly strike- when to return?

[murphrandir]

Hello everybody, Tuesday evening I was outside doing chicken chores and saw that my buckeye had a particularly dirty looking bottom. I picked her up to discover that she had an abundance of maggots near her vent and the smell was atrocious. I soaked her in warm water and epsom, removed every visible maggot, trimmed all the butt feathers, and let her rest. The first day I also cleaned it with some hydrogen peroxide, and the next day I used Vetericyn a few times. I have been using Derma-GeL since, and I actually haven’t seen a single maggot since the very first night I discovered it. The wound was actually above the vent itself, and it doesn’t appear to go super deep. She’s eating and drinking and pooping normally, but I’m just curious when I should put her back outside. it looks wet in the picture, but that’s just because of the ointment.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I'm glad she's okay!

Has she been separated from the flock since Tuesday? If she's feeling and looking well enough to go out, you might want to crate her with the flock to start. My chickens will get weird if one of their flock-mates leaves for even a day. You wouldn't want her to be targeted while she's still recovering, and you REALLY don't want them picking at her behind.

I'm guessing the black blob is the Derma-Gel?

 

[murphrandir]

I'm glad she's okay!

Has she been separated from the flock since Tuesday? If she's feeling and looking well enough to go out, you might want to crate her with the flock to start. My chickens will get weird if one of their flock-mates leaves for even a day. You wouldn't want her to be targeted while she's still recovering, and you REALLY don't want them picking at her behind.

I'm guessing the black blob is the Derma-Gel?

The gel is actually clear. The black is necrotic tissue. It’s very rough feeling when it’s not covered in the ointment, almost like a scab. I actually let her out briefly today so I could clean out her crate and she sprinted over to her flock mates to conduct business as usual. But once I cleaned it out a returned her to the crate. I fear more about flies finding it again than I do her flock mates bothering her. They are generally pretty accepting if I reintroduce during free range. But yes, she has been separated since then.