Is this fly strike? PLEASE HELP

GracePoultry

Chickens are like cookies. 1 turns into 50
Premium Feather Member
Oct 29, 2024
4,956
20,461
801
Indiana
My Coop
My Coop
I'm very scared and disgusted at what I saw a few minutes ago. My hen Marmalade (5yr old Buff rock) started having some runny poop a few days ago. I found out she had a crop problem which I am currently treating. I thought the runny poop getting all over her vent feathers was because she wasn't digesting anything because of her crop problem.

But today I went out to try a treatment on her and I was trying to hold open her beak and in the scuffle 2 maggots that looked like this:
1746461855803.png

Fell off of her and I know they were alive because I saw one moving. we've had more flys now that it's getting a bit warmer but nothing crazy.

I didn't know what to do so I ran and got the hose and just started spraying all her feathers and removed as much of the poop as I could with the hose before Marmalade wasn't having it anymore. I found 3 other maggots when I was spraying her. there is a wound they are eating below her vent I think her. I'm very lost as I've never had to deal with this. is it contagious? I have another hen with soiled bum feathers and I'm worried she might have this too so I need to check her.

Please help I'm very scared for my birds

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous
 
Last edited:
A water hose with water will chill her. Get her into a tub, dish tub, sink, or bucet with warm soapy water. Add some betadine, chlorhexidene, or Epsom salts, but Dawn is fine. Soak just the vent area, and get all of the maggots off her. Many will fall into the water. Wrap her in a towel, and use tweezers to get all visible maggots off. Put some antibiotic ointment or vaseline on her vent area the cover the wound. The warm soak will need to be repeated 2 or 3 times to make sure that all maggots that hatch are removed.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/
 
Pictures would be helpful, but yes, it sounds like fly strike. Flying insects lay their eggs in the droppings around the vent, when the eggs hatch the larvae (the maggots) feed on the live bird, causing the wound. You need to give her a good soak, warm epsom salts, diluted clorhexidine, diluted betadine, or mild soapy water. Get it cleaned up well and remove every maggot you can find. Keep flushing the wound and removing any you find. Sometimes tweezers can help. Once she's dry, after the soak, apply plain triple antibiotic ointment to the wound to cover it and keep it moist, reapply as needed to keep it covered. Repeat soaking and cleaning as needed to get any more that show up, any eggs in there can continue to hatch.
Here is a link to a bird that did recover:
https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flystrike-a-chicken-killer-cuddles-beats-the-odds-again/
 
Thank you for the help! I gave her a bath in epsom salt with some soap for 20ish minutes and 30 some maggots came off
IMG_20250505_140434_563.jpg
IMG_20250505_140511_139.jpg
Then I rinsed her off in a second bath and my mom helped my clean up the wound a bit and remove any remaining maggots.
IMG_20250505_142302_499.jpg
She was so good through the whole process and is now eating some eggs.
My mom is going to run to the store to get me some Betadine to put on her wound and put Vaseline over too since that's what I can afford right now. Is this a good treatment?
IMG_20250505_151855_592.jpg
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom