Help with Sick Isa Brown

[Jmulh]

My Isa Brown hen, Sugar is 2 1/2 years old. I have one other hen, also a 2 1/2 year old Isa. They sleep in a protected coop at night and free range during the day. Six months ago Sugar molted, stopped laying and never restarted. Over the last couple of months occasionally, she would lay an egg with no shell or a partial shell. But other than that she seemed perfectly healthy until yesterday. My other hen seems fine. Yesterday afternoon Sugar went into her coop early at mid afternoon and stayed there. She has never done that before. This morning she didn’t come out. She is listless, not eating and barely drinking. This afternoon I took her out and found she had poop stuck all over her rear with little maggot looking worms all over her rear also. I washed her off and wrapped her in a towel. I‘ve included a photo of her rear area. She had some unusual dark areas on her skin. She also had an unusual folded flap of skin there also. I didn’t see any maggots coming out her vent. I brought her into the house. She is very lethargic, not moving around and not eating or drinking. Any suggestions or ideas would be welcome. I‘m not sure she will make it through the night.

 

[Tookie]

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Jmulh]

Could her skin have somehow pulled open?

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Is there an injury? It sounds like she could have some sort of reproductive issue.

 

[Jmulh]

Is there an injury? It sounds like she could have some sort of reproductive issue.

I’m not sure what I’m looking at but it might be her skin has separated. Do you know if that can happen spontaneously?

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I've never heard of that happening before. Maybe some of the experts can chime in!

 

[azygous]

I have no idea what your photo is supposed to illustrate. You need to beef up your narrative and explain the situation to us so we understand what problem you are seeing. Then take another photo of the entire chicken standing free and in a pose where we can see her eyes so we can then judge how sick she is and/or if she's in pain.

If this chicken has been injured, tell us how it happened, and how long ago it happened. She may have a serious infection and need an antibiotic.

 

[Jmulh]

I have examined her more closely. Her skin is definitely separated and split open below her vent, about 2 1/2 inches long. The underlying membrane looks secure and not split. I put neosporin ointment (without pain relief) on the area. I don’t know how she could have gotten injured or if it could have happened spontaneously for some other reason. She is still not drinking but she did eat a few live mealworms recently. I’m attaching a full body photo. I’ll see if I can find a vet in the morning to sew her up.

 

[coach723]

If there were maggots then she's got flystrike. This is life threatening. That could have started just with droppings stuck in her feathers, or possibly an injury. The flies lay their eggs in the droppings (or wound), the maggots hatch and feed on the live bird. So getting rid of the maggots is priority #1. You will need to continue to check her several times a day to make sure that no more maggots hatch, remove any that you find. Keep the wound covered with plain neosporin or plain triple antibiotic ointment and keep her where flies cannot get to her. It looks like a fairly large area, I would consider a round of oral antibiotics also. If no maggots made it into her abdominal cavity, then she has a chance to recover. The maggots don't crawl up the vent, they eat through the bird. Once you've dealt with the flystrike then you can try to figure out why she had droppings build up. Maybe a reproductive problem making it hard to push droppings out, or if droppings are runny, maybe internal parasites. If you can see a vet then I would get a fecal float test done. I would not stitch the wound up, it could close in bacteria, or maggots. You need to be vigilant about checking for and removing maggots.
More on flystrike here:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/
https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flystrike-a-chicken-killer-cuddles-beats-the-odds-again/

 

[Jmulh]

If there were maggots then she's got flystrike. This is life threatening. That could have started just with droppings stuck in her feathers, or possibly an injury. The flies lay their eggs in the droppings (or wound), the maggots hatch and feed on the live bird. So getting rid of the maggots is priority #1. You will need to continue to check her several times a day to make sure that no more maggots hatch, remove any that you find. Keep the wound covered with plain neosporin or plain triple antibiotic ointment and keep her where flies cannot get to her. It looks like a fairly large area, I would consider a round of oral antibiotics also. If no maggots made it into her abdominal cavity, then she has a chance to recover. The maggots don't crawl up the vent, they eat through the bird. Once you've dealt with the flystrike then you can try to figure out why she had droppings build up. Maybe a reproductive problem making it hard to push droppings out, or if droppings are runny, maybe internal parasites. If you can see a vet then I would get a fecal float test done. I would not stitch the wound up, it could close in bacteria, or maggots. You need to be vigilant about checking for and removing maggots.
More on flystrike here:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/
https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flystrike-a-chicken-killer-cuddles-beats-the-odds-again/

Thanks so much for your help. She is now inside the house where I can keep an eye on her. There is only one chicken vet in our area. I’ll try to get an appointment asap. In the meantime I’ll take your advice.