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Actually, it is true! Flies will lay their eggs in rotting/decaying flesh or open wounds. A wound that will not heal is a "dying" one. Because maggots like rotting meat, theyre a good aid in medicine, where they will eat the dead flesh in a wound, leaving the living and healthy tissue alone. It is scientific/biological FACT! What might appear to the human eye that they are "eating living flesh", isn't the case. They are eating what is dead and dying.
Flies will also lay their eggs in poop.
Most maggots will eat any flesh they encounter.
The maggots used in medicine are very specialized and raised in laboratories. Note that I did not say they would not eat decaying flesh, only that they will also eat healthy flesh; they will create a wound.
Try googling "flystrike." I have dealt with this a number of times. It can occur in a matter of just a few hours in hot weather.
I should not have said with absolution that maggots only eat dead flesh. I will take that back. So I googled fly strike...I was not aware that maggots can create a wound to live in.
The maggots aren't trained in the medical field...only bred in labratories for sterilization purposes for Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT). They are no more specialized than the maggots at the bottom of the dumpster...just sterilized.
I don't need to list all of the things flies lay their eggs in, because this OP's post has to do with her chicken that had maggots on her vent. They can be layed in anything DECAYING OR DYING OR DECOMPOSING! Her chicken had diarrhea, and an open sore. What better source of food for a flies' babies? She said the chicken had chronic diarrhea...which will create the sore. Are there maggots that can eat live flesh...yes. But when the "general" term maggot is thrown around, it refers to the "general" maggot that is born on decaying animals (or plants, garbage, poop...) and will eat the dead or dying soft tissues available.
A mosquito is in the same classification as a fly, and does indeed suck fresh blood...but in the Diptera family, there are hundreds of thousands of types of flies (single winged)...this does not include dragonflies, and the like.
Blowfly strike, known as myiasis, is a common disease in sheep, [and other livestock] especially in areas where there are hot and wet conditions. The female flies lay their eggs on the sheep in
damp, protected areas of the body that are soiled with urine and feces, mainly the sheep's breech (buttocks). It takes approximately 8 hours to a day for the eggs to hatch, depending on the conditions. This results in
sores as the larvae lacerate the skin; this is the primary reason for the early removal of lambs' tails. The larvae then tunnel into the host's tissue, causing
irritating lesions. After about the second day,
bacterial infection occurs and, if left untreated, causes toxemia or septicemia.
German entomologist Fritz Zumpt describes myiasis as "the infestation of live human and vertebrate animals with dipterous larvae, which at least for a period, feed on the host's dead or living tissue, liquid body substances, or ingested food".
One more time...these "particular" maggots create the environment that best suits them! They are creating a wound to feed off of...the infection, the fecal matter, that is a perfect home! Maggots mouths have two "hooks"...this is why it is difficult to remove them sometimes.
Without seeing her chicken, I can not conclude with absolute proof that it was a "general" infestation or "fly strike". You said
"Most maggots will eat any flesh they encounter." Really? That's a pretty broad statement, don't you think? You could put a handful of maggots on your arm...are they going to eat your flesh?
Unlikely.
I wish the "cause" of the sore and maggots could be determined...if that would bring any peace to the OP. It is difficult losing a chicken and not having the answers to the cause of death. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.
