Freaking out, maggots in vent

[la399]

To make a long story short, these are my mother in laws chickens and I don’t not know much about their age or what they eat etc. I noticed one chicken was very lethargic and had a messy bottom. My MIL didn’t seem to concerned but I knew there was something wrong. I got her in a warm tub of water and realized there are maggots in and around her vent and the poop stuck smells awful. I got her in a dog crate because I couldn’t finish washing her as she was freaking out. I don’t know what to do at this point. Please someone help, I don’t want to see her die

 

[DobieLover]

To make a long story short, these are my mother in laws chickens and I don’t not know much about their age or what they eat etc. I noticed one chicken was very lethargic and had a messy bottom. My MIL didn’t seem to concerned but I knew there was something wrong. I got her in a warm tub of water and realized there are maggots in and around her vent and the poop stuck smells awful. I got her in a dog crate because I couldn’t finish washing her as she was freaking out. I don’t know what to do at this point. Please someone help, I don’t want to see her die

She is suffering from flystrike. You need to remove every maggot you see.
If she is not too lethargic, soak her in a warm epsom salt bath for about 20 minutes. When you remove her from the bath, inspect her very carefully and remove all the maggots you can find. You will need to repeat this treatment and continue to remove maggots as they hatch from eggs that don't rinse off.
If her skin is damaged, you will want to spray her with Vetericyn or some similar antibacterial treatment.

 

[Folly's place]

This is an emergency, and needs very fast and thorough action. Soak her as recommended, and something like Dawn dish soap would be fine too. Wear gloves! Remove every maggot, every one, and trim some feathers to see better. There will be fly eggs on her that will need to be gone too.
Maggots hatch from eggs in one day, and will kill in another 24 to 36 hours max. Act fast!
She may be affected because she's sick from something else, so do look at her for signs of illness besides.
Mary

 

[ellenscoop]

It's called fly strike...you really need to bring her to see a vet. Here is a case story about a hen who had it - http://www.poultrydvm.com/cases/buffy

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have pictures? You will need to repeat these soaks to her bottom several times until no maggots are seen. Vetericyn wound spray can be good to spray on the area after the soak. Plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment are good to apply as well. Try getting her to eat and drink. Electrolytes in water or Poultry NutriDrench is good for her, as well as cooked egg, and a wet mash of chicken feed plus water. The coop may be sprayed with permethrin 10 spray to control flies, and I would check any other chickens if there are poopy bottoms.
Here is a good article about flystrike:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

 

[la399]

Sorry for no update. We took her to an animal hospital where they cleaned the wound out and gave us the attached list of medications. The only one I’m uncertain about giving her is the antibiotic, as they said we couldn’t eat her eggs ever again. The problem is that her flock is all the same breed so all of their eggs look the same. She’s resting now but seems to be doing much better after all of the medicine and cleaning. Should I give her the antibiotic? They didn’t say the wound is infected.

 

[Shadrach]

Sorry for no update. We took her to an animal hospital where they cleaned the wound out and gave us the attached list of medications. The only one I’m uncertain about giving her is the antibiotic, as they said we couldn’t eat her eggs ever again. The problem is that her flock is all the same breed so all of their eggs look the same. She’s resting now but seems to be doing much better after all of the medicine and cleaning. Should I give her the antibiotic? They didn’t say the wound is infected.

I'm going to stick my neck out a bit.
The vets advice is sound and a responsible vet should always say this.
However, people have eaten both meat and eggs from livestock treated with antibiotics for a number of years.
What you can't so is sell the eggs or give them to anyone else. I will eat the eggs from hens treated with antibiotics as will some others. There is a risk. I haven't researched how big the risk is.
I would treat the hen with the antibiotics if the vet has prescribed them.

 

[la399]

The problem is she said these antibiotics can cause violent hallucinations in humans.

 

[coach723]

I would use the antibiotics also. Many people use enrofloxacin, and other antibiotics. The sensible thing to do is to do a responsible withdrawl period to allow any residues to deplete once the medication is no longer being given. Here is one study I found on enrofloxacin in eggs, a two week withdrawl following end of medication seems like it would be adequate.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21392039

 

[Eggcessive]

Most antibiotics are not approved for laying hens. However many vets will prescribe, and many people will give them to their chickens to treat a dangerous infection. Enrofloxacin or Baytril is banned in the US for chickens, but it is still widely used, and legal in other countries. I would wait 30 days after treatment to eat eggs if she continues to lay them. If you or your family has ever used Cipro, that is very similar, so I don’t know why the vet was so cautious. There is a risk of those things with it’s exposure in humans, but it is not common.