Help!!! I have Larve on my hen!

[Cindymac]

Oh no! I'm so sorry. I'm sending you some virtual hugs I hate that for you.

Flystrike comes from flies landing on a bird, usually attracted to a wound or poopy butts, and lays eggs. In warmer climates the eggs can hatch within 24 hours. Once the larvae hatch, they begin to eat at the bird and can even create holes in the birds skin, possibly even crossing into the abdomen. These wounds attract more flies, which lay more eggs. It's really horrible. Treatment involves washing the wound and removing every single maggot. This has to be done on a regular basis (am & pm) until you don't find anymore. Then treating the wound left behind. Severity varies in each case. Oftentimes culling is the best thing for the bird. I hope this is the last time you see this on any of your birds, whether it's flystrike or not.

Thank you for the info. I noticed 3 areas on her where they seemed to be bunched up.each time I cleaned her it seemed like there were just as many as the first time. One spot looked like it was rather deep, hence the reason for culling her. She was very weak. I honestly thought since she was one of our oldest birds she was just being slow. I'll be washing and looking at the other girls today.

 

[Cindymac]

Thank you for the info. I noticed 3 areas on her where they seemed to be bunched up.each time I cleaned her it seemed like there were just as many as the first time. One spot looked like it was rather deep, hence the reason for culling her. She was very weak. I honestly thought since she was one of our oldest birds she was just being slow. I'll be washing and looking at the other girls today.

May I ask, what causes featherless beet red butt areas on the hens? How do we make it better for them?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

May I ask, what causes featherless beet red butt areas on the hens? How do we make it better for them?

To be honest, I'm not sure. I have some theories but I could be wrong. I suspect that anytime they have something going on with their digestive system, whether it be diarrhea or loose stools, the ph in their body would probably be off. I wonder if this creates some inflammation to the skin, especially if their stools are more acidic. Hopefully someone will chime in on this to clear it up.

 

[Cindymac]

To be honest, I'm not sure. I have some theories but I could be wrong. I suspect that anytime they have something going on with their digestive system, whether it be diarrhea or loose stools, the ph in their body would probably be off. I wonder if this creates some inflammation to the skin, especially if their stools are more acidic. Hopefully someone will chime in on this to clear it up.

I free range them when we are here, hence the fox attack, otherwise they have a large area (3 electric fence systems big)to roam in when we're not here. I do look at their poops on the regular, since they love to hang out in out garage some are not as solid as others. During summer, I had a hanging water filled with electrolytes to help with the heat stress. I'll go back to that again for awhile, but I cannot help what they eat when they are foraging. I haven't changed their food since spring. In winter I give them an 18 % layer feed to help keep them warm, then back to a 16%layer feed. Same producer of food for both. Plus scratch grain mixed with sunflower seeds. Again, never had this before either until this year. I live in the foothills of the Adirondack mts. In NY.
My yard varies from wet to dry depending on where on the property you're looking. Could the damp area be an issue? I've put pellitized horse bedding down in their enclosure which has raised the area up 3 inches and now they dust bathe in it. I am stumped as to why I'm having issues here where on my old property I never had this issue. Any thoughts from any one would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MamaFox78]

To be honest, I'm not sure. I have some theories but I could be wrong. I suspect that anytime they have something going on with their digestive system, whether it be diarrhea or loose stools, the ph in their body would probably be off. I wonder if this creates some inflammation to the skin, especially if their stools are more acidic. Hopefully someone will chime in on this to clear it up.

I have a RIR hen, Mother Clucker, who was part of a rescue flock... all the birds were in horrible shape when I got them over a year ago, and I spent a gazillion dollars on vet bills. Mother Clucker has always had a swollen, red, mostly featherless belly/ butt in spite of multiple treatments attempting to resolve it... antibiotics, Chinese herbs, probiotics, topical treatments, you name it. I treated the entire flock/ coop for scaly leg mites, and ever since I got the chooks I've done parasite prevention on the regular, so I know it's not that (plus the rest of my flock of now 21 chickens aren't affected)... and I use sand for substrate and straw in the nesting boxes, so it's likely not allergies unless it's grass, but it still didn't resolve in winter when everything was snow-covered, so probably not that either.

I'm thinking Mother Clucker had some kind of inflammation for so long before I got her, she's just unable to shake it. But she eats and gets around just fine, acts totally normal (except for being a cranky old RIR, thus her name ), so I eventually gave up trying to fix it. I would love to know what causes the red, featherless skin, but my guess is chronic inflammation.

 

[MamaFox78]

I free range them when we are here, hence the fox attack, otherwise they have a large area (3 electric fence systems big)to roam in when we're not here. I do look at their poops on the regular, since they love to hang out in out garage some are not as solid as others. During summer, I had a hanging water filled with electrolytes to help with the heat stress. I'll go back to that again for awhile, but I cannot help what they eat when they are foraging. I haven't changed their food since spring. In winter I give them an 18 % layer feed to help keep them warm, then back to a 16%layer feed. Same producer of food for both. Plus scratch grain mixed with sunflower seeds. Again, never had this before either until this year. I live in the foothills of the Adirondack mts. In NY.
My yard varies from wet to dry depending on where on the property you're looking. Could the damp area be an issue? I've put pellitized horse bedding down in their enclosure which has raised the area up 3 inches and now they dust bathe in it. I am stumped as to why I'm having issues here where on my old property I never had this issue. Any thoughts from any one would be greatly appreciated.

Damp areas definitely attract flies... my horse pasture has a small creek running through it (we have an unusual amount of ground water for the Colorado mountains), and my sorrel Quarter Horse gets eaten alive by flies like nothing I've ever seen. My other 2 horses aren't nearly as affected, my Mustang not at all, even though they graze right next to him. I think certain animals are just more affected by flies, sort of like how mosquitoes love chewing up some people and not others.

I would try dusting your bedding with diatomaceous earth, that way it'll kill parasites as they dust bathe... after removing manure from their vent area and letting them dry, you can also dust the birds with DE to kill anything that's already on them, just be sure not to get it near their heads/ beaks as you don't want them breathing it in. It works FAST, on all life stages of insects.

I'm so sorry you had to cull your girl, that sounds terrible. Hopefully the DE will do the trick!