~ Sit hen in bowl of warm saline and keep her in it for 10 -15 minutes. This will give the wound an initial cleaning and will drown many of the maggots. Change the saline solution a couple of times. You may find that the maggots will thrash about in the saline bath.
~ Carefully trim the feathers around the wound with blunt ended scissors and then remove as many maggots as you can with a pair of tweezers,
~ With a syringe, flush the wound thoroughly with fresh saline solution.
~ Pat dry. Do not use anything that will leave linty bits in the wound.
~ Isolate hen. Keep her warm and encourage her to drink, syringing water into her beak if she is reluctant to drink of her own accord.
~ Repeat the above two or three times a day till there are no maggots left.
~ After the first soak, you could give an initial flush out with a weak hydrogen peroxide solution, but dont use this too often as it is rather harsh and over use will interfere with the formation of granulation tissue.
~ Another option is to use a weak iodine solution, with just enough added to water so that it looks like milkless tea.
~ If using a saline solution, sea salt is a better option than table salt, as it has not been refined.
~ It is best to keep the wound open and dry, so that the air can get down into it. Most of the harmful wound bacteria are anaerobic and they thrive in closed conditions.
~ Avoid using wet ointments as flies find the wound and lay their eggs deep in the ointment.
~ It is essential that all maggots are removed, as they will eat healthy flesh as well as deadtissue.These are not the specially bred and clinically reared maggots used in the healing and debridement of gangrene or necrotic tissue etc in clinicalsituations.The maggots are full of bacteria and secrete toxins which are largely responsible for the death of affected hens.
