Flystrike in Older Hen

[505Chooks]

So I learned what flystrike is yesterday

We have an older hen that has been having some health problems. We treated her for scaly leg mite a few weeks ago and she still has a fair sized leg lump that may be an infected area. Yesterday I saw she had diarrhea covering her butt and was acting lethargic. We gave her a bath, making the unfortunate discovery of fly strike and a wound below her vent. We cleaned it out as best as we could. I later did saline wash, vetrmycin, and removal of visible maggots. We have continued on that today. I was hoping the crust around the vent was just hard to budge poop but it seems more integrated so wondering about vet visit and whether they will help clear things out and provide meds or just recommend euthanasia (which seems to be their MO in my area. Anyone have experience debriding or addressing crust like this?

She was eating and drinking yesterday but not much interest today. We have her indoors. First photo id today, second is from yesterday.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC.Sorry about your hen. That looks pretty bad with the open wound in her lower belly. It is hard to see well because of the feathers and position. You may want to keep soaking her once or twice a day until all maggots have stopped hatching out, and that takes a day or longer. I would be tempted to put her down if the wound goes very far inside. Only you would know what is best. It can be hard to heal a wound there since she may lie on it quite a bit. It would help to trim away any feathers from the wound to help cleaning it, and we could also see how it looks. Vetericyn or plain antibiotic ointment should be applied after the soaks, and keep her separate from others while she is like this. Watch for more of this, and control flies if possible. Here is some reading:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

https://chickenwhisperermagazine.com/health-and-wellness/striking-out-flystrike

 

[505Chooks]

Looks like my update didn't save. We were able to get in to see the "chicken vet" yesterday afternoon. They did a betadine irrigation to get the last few critters out and flush the wound. There weren't many maggots left, so that was good. It did have some deeper pockets. They were not able to gently work the crusty bit off but used silva sulfadiazine ointment on the wound entrance with us applying 2x/day. Since she already has been having diarrhea the vet went with a soluble antibiotic (tylosin) rather than the go-to pill as it has vomiting and diarrhea as side effects. There was a lot of diarrhea this morning (generally looking like wet crumble). Our hen has been pretty quiet, mild appetite. She wasn't drinking until I basically started spoon encouraging her-but she is now drinking well. Glad we took her in since the vet with chicken expertise was in.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the update, and glad that your vet helped her. Keep us posted on how she is doing, and I hope she recovers. I haven’t experienced fly strike before, but many people say that there are usually underlying reasons for it. Older age, reproductive disorders, crop problems, etc.

 

[theoldchick]

In cases like these, at-home nursing care is of utmost importance. Keep up the good work and your old gal should be out and about once again. I've used baby diapers on chickens with abdominal injuries which keeps the dirt out and stops self mutilation. Best of luck!

 

[505Chooks]

Thank you for the update, and glad that your vet helped her. Keep us posted on how she is doing, and I hope she recovers. I haven’t experienced fly strike before, but many people say that there are usually underlying reasons for it. Older age, reproductive disorders, crop problems, etc.

Yeah, she has had a couple of other issues lately like scaley leg mites. She's about 9 years old and I think things are winding down.

We did have a 12 year old hen that lived happily for several years after we spent a few weeks nursing her back from paralysis.

 

[505Chooks]

In cases like these, at-home nursing care is of utmost importance. Keep up the good work and your old gal should be out and about once again. I've used baby diapers on chickens with abdominal injuries which keeps the dirt out and stops self mutilation. Best of luck!

That sounds like a great approach for *not* having to keep her in the house once she is on the healing path and wanting to move around but not totally healed up.

 

[505Chooks]

Update: She’s doing better today—stronger, eating more and interested in treats, and drinking well. She doesn’t feel as warm, so I think she probably was running a fever. She still has diarrhea, with mostly water coming out. The wound looks much better and is getting smaller. So we are hopeful But the digestive issues are concerning. She is free drinking a good bit, at least.

She still is not standing much. We took her outside for a short spell and she spread her wing to get some sun, did some overs rocking that I think was a sort of dust bath motion, and our other hen got to se her friend is still around (we lost that younger hen’s “sister” a few weeks ago to a raccoon and she’s been a bit anxious alone).

 

[505Chooks]

In cases like these, at-home nursing care is of utmost importance. Keep up the good work and your old gal should be out and about once again. I've used baby diapers on chickens with abdominal injuries which keeps the dirt out and stops self mutilation. Best of luck!

Can you provide a bit more detail on diapering? She is perkier today so we think she may be ready for some outdoor time soonish. What size diapers (she's a 5# buckeye)? And any tips on how one should arrange the diaper in relation to anatomy and get it on her with minimal stress?

 

[505Chooks]

Aww, man, after getting better for several days, our hen has been pretty despondent today, mostly stopped eating, and by this evening her breathing is labored and she isn’t quite holding herself up evenly. pretty sure she isn’t going to make it through the night.