hen wounded, can't get rid of the maggots

[tiki244]

on the pics

 

[M@M@2four]

Use peroxide! It will kill the maggots on contact as well as clean the area out! I have dealt with this and used that and I also use a saline wash(just salt and water mix). Then LATHER the area in neosporin. Good luck!

 

[NellaBean]

I had my first hen with maggots this spring.....she had a poopy butt, apparently the flies got underneath, laid eggs, maggots wormed their way into her body in a big wound below the vent. I used an epsom salt solution (some epsom salts dissolved in warm water to flush the wound well. Then I sat with tweezers and picked out every one that I could find. Don't be afraid to work the wound a bit. I would squeeze it side to side and up and down to try and find all of the "pockets" of maggots. I had to do this 3 times before I came back to the wound and could not find any more (so 1 cleaning on day 1, 1 cleaning on day 2 AM and 1 cleaning day 2 PM). I believe I put some triple antiotic ointment on the wound, and kept the chicken in a brooder with wound exposed....not wrapped. I think that would be better than keeping it closed up, as long as there are no other chickens with her to peck it

If she is struggling, cover her head with a sheet, towel, etc. Make sure you don't smother the poor thing of course, but that will help her calm down. You really need to just get her covered up, flush the wounds well and pick all the maggots out with tweezers. Would be nice to have two sets of hands, one to hold the bird, one to do the flushing and picking.

My girl's wound was NASTY. It was pretty deep as well. But she healed up just fine and dandy. Within a month you couldnt even tell where the wound was.

 

[emptynester]

Maggots are not a bad thing. I know, I know- they give everyone the

factor. However, contrary to popular belief, maggots eat only the dead and diseased tissue and leave the healthy tissue alone. Once all the dying or dead tissue is gone, the maggots have nothing left to eat and they either change into the next stage of life as a fly and fly away or they go off in search of greener pastures and die. Either way, maggots are a GOOD thing. When it comes to bad wounds, maggots tirelessly digest decay and infection. Again, a GOOD thing.

 

[chkn]

I like to keep SWAT around for maggot problems. Clean off as many as you can then slather some on. It's a fly repellant used for horses and you can get it at most farm and pet supplies. Don't freak about the wound you have to give it a chance to heal no matter how bad you think it is.

 

[plan4him]

Evening update - Hubby, daughter (Sammi's owner) and I cleaned her up again. (Takes 3 because we're all a little weak stomached) Hubby went to get ointment and vet wrap. Lady at the store sent him home with NFZ wound dressing which is a thick goopy salve.

We tried picking as many off of her as we could, without much success until we slathered on the salve. They came crawling out of her wounds

and we got A LOT off of her. It's water soluble so it was coming off some too. Slathered it on again, same result. She was getting pretty antsy by this time so we wiped a bunch off with paper towel, removing more of the maggots, and slathered on more of the NFZ for the night. We decided to not wrap her yet at this point, just feels kind of tricky to try to get it around her body so awkwardly.

As we were putting her in the laundry room for the night I realized we forgot to snap a picture. We'll make sure to take one in the morning.

 

[tiki244]

Quote:
I have heard this also. But then I have heard there are good maggots and bad maggots so you need to know which "variety"? they are? As far as covering the wound, it is a process outlined in cell migration on the link provided that rejuvinates all dead skin and allows new feather growth that would not be possible if the wound was left open.

 

[tiki244]

Quote:
That sounds like good progress. Thanks for updateing always love to find out the outcome.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Quote:
This is NOT true! Animals with open wounds can sometimes get what is called fly strike. The maggots will eat healthy flesh to the point that they can kill the animal they are feasting on.

 

[puyallupgal]

maggots only eat dead material and are actually used in medicine to clean wounds. they will mature, pupate and tun into flies--and fly away. keep the wound as clean as possible and don't damage the area any more by trying too vigorously to remove the larva or by all means DON'T put any insecticide on an open wound!! have patience, chickens are incredibly resilient.