Please help! Abscess on butt...

[elchuchu5]

I just found that my hen has a half-dollar sized abscess on her butt next to her anus. There were fly's and maggots on it. I flushed it out with the hose and seperated her from the other chicken. I don't know what to do. Please advise me on what I can do/buy to help her! I feel so bad for her, she won't stop pecking at it. I attached a pic if that helps. Thanks so much!

 

[elchuchu5]

any suggestions? I tried emailing the chicken doctor but haven't heard back.

 

[rachelbinnc]

Hi there. I'm sorry about your chicken. I know how worrisome an infection can be. I just had a hen get a terrible infection after a stray dog bit her on the back. My vet gave me chlorhexadine to flush the infected area daily and this herbal poultice called Golden Yellow to put on it to dry it out and help with scab formation. It worked wonders. I'm not sure if your vet has any in-stock but you could maybe ask him to order it for you, or do a google search for "golden yellow poultice." Seriously, this stuff saved my chicken from an infection that ate through her muscle to the backbone.

In terms of what you can do at home, I would go ahead and get some sterile saline to flush the wound rather than using cold water from the hose (probably doesn't feel too good and may not be as clean as you'd like it to be). Also, isolate her from other chickens and keep her in the house in a dog crate or something like it to keep flies from getting on the wound and laying eggs in it. Make sure you check the wound thoroughly for any maggots that might be in it and remove them. There are some great posts on here about maggot removal if you end up with that problem. Make sure she is eating well and supplement her food to get her interested if her appetite isn't what it should be. Good luck! Hopefully someone with more experience with wound care will reply before too long.

 

[rachelbinnc]

Sorry, I see now that your issue really is with flies and maggots. Thorough cleaning is going to be very important, as is keeping her inside until the wound is healed (or at least scabbed over). Do a forum search for "maggots" and you will get some good information.

 

[robin416]

I suspect this started with a prolapse. The pic is out of focus so it is difficult to see what you are referring to. If there is an encapsulated abscess then it needs to be removed.

Try taking another pic a little further back to get it more in focus.

Peter travels a lot so it might be days before you hear anything from him.