hen wounded, can't get rid of the maggots

[puyallupgal]

Fly strike usually seen in sheep, not chickens and sometimes in humans in tropical climates.

 

[Blue_Myst]

Quote:
The problem is that wild maggots are not germfree, unlike the specially bred and disinfected laboratory maggots used in medicine. A lot depends on the species of the maggot, too. Unless you know for certain that the species is one used in medical biotherapy, do not let the maggots get inside of her! Some species of maggots will eat live flesh to get to the dead flesh.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Quote:
There are maggots that will kill living tissue and eat it, such as the blowfly. They also release a toxin that will kill a chicken. LOOK UP FLY STRIKE BEFORE SAYING ALL MAGGOTS ARE BENEFICIAL! I just had a call duck die from this and I have had previous experience where I consulted a vet.

 

[plan4him]

Update on Sammi: She's still with us, eating yogurt and rice and feed. We cleaned her off, used more of the NFZ, picked some more maggots. It was harder today because there are less of them but they are under pockets of skin. So yay and yuck!

As I was holding her, she feels warm and is shaky/shivery. Maybe running a fever with chills? Or just reacting to the repeated trauma of her care?

I put her on a towel on the floor after we were done and she stood and walked/hobbled a little and then she ate too. And drank water.

We took some pictures so I'm going to try to figure out how to down load them now.

 

[welasharon]

Anyone who thinks maggots are not a bad thing have not dealt with them in an animal with fly strike. They keep eating and boring holes into the host animal (they do not stop with dead tissue) and the animal will eventually die. It is not pretty and they must be removed manually. I found some kittens that a mother had abandoned and they were in their legs. The vet cautioned my not to kill them in the kitten but to pick them out.

 

[plan4him]

Warning, yucky picture! The first one is a close up of part of Sammi's injury with the NFZ on it. That is what is yellowish and goopy. (The blueish color is from the single treatment of Blukote we did before starting this treatment) The second is to show all of her. The rest of her injury is under her wing. It looks much better without all the maggots (and there were hundreds!).

BTW, can someone tell us what kind of chicken she is? We have another like her (Peckers) and two basic white ones (Camilla and Lightbulb) and a salt and pepper (Dottie) (my kids each named their own, Lightbulb's owner is 3). We are really newbies and don't know their breeds.

Thank you to everyone's input about the desirableness (or not) about maggots. From my research, it seems there is more of a chance that they could harm her than help her since we don't know what kind they are. Also, the antibiotic ointment should help what beneficial maggots might provide.

 

[tiki244]

Thanks for the pictures. I think she can definitely make it. This NFZ must be good stuff. What is it?

I would recomend a round of antibiotics just in case, followed by some probiotics. If you are interested in this let me know and I could further explain or maybe a vet can prescribe some over the phone. Chickens do run a pretty high temperature normally. 103*-106* > above that would be bad.

I do not know what kind of chicken she is as am not familiar with that type. She could maybe be a black Australorp(Australian), which is a breed that lays lots of eggs. Although from her head looking quite full she almost looks like she has some Asian influence to her.

Glad you are getting rid of the maggots. If you are interested in regrowing her feathers later on when the maggots are gone the article I posted back on page one would help for regeneration of skin and feathers.


ETA: My hen looked a lot lot like her injury on the side as the rooster had dug his claws and the skin had ripped down like that. She also had quite the pocket in there to clean out. Luckily I didnt have to deal with the maggots. Love the one tail feather!!

 

[tiki244]

Do any of the chickens have beards? Did she have a beard?

 

[plan4him]

Thanks tiki244. My hubby and I are planning to give the regeneration method a try. The NFZ seems to be keeping the area quite moist for now. It's a wound dressing with .2% Nitrofurazone for dogs, cats, and horses. We got it at Fleet Farm on recommendation from a lady working there. The caution on it warns to not use on animals for food, which makes me uncomfortable with it. We don't plan to eat Sammi but hopefully we won't need to use this much longer. I think we'll probably switch to neosporin type when the maggots are gone. I'll talk to hubby about the antibiotics, he's had more experience with that sort of thing.

Sammi's personality fits with the description I read about Australorps, although she doesn't have as much of the red part on her forehead/brow area. Maybe that comes with maturity, she's still young yet. I'm looking forward to the eggs in a month or two. She is very sweet and gentle, the most tame of the group.

 

[plan4him]

No beards, although one that we lost to a predator was white and gray (blended, not spotted) with kind of a "lions mane" around her face and a perpetual surprised or dunce look.