Please help - hen has red raw butt covered in maggots or worms

[canuck chicken]

Hello. My old auracana has a red raw looking butt, the area is teeming with white bugs (maggots maybe?), her tail feathers are covered in a smelly brown discharge and she's acting like you'd expect - sick.

I gave her a dose of tylan because it's the only thing I can think of. I'm about to give her a soak in a warm tub, gotta get some disinfecting soap - Betadine maybe?

Any help or thoughts please???
She's been with me a long time. I don't want her to suffer or die. I don't have a bird vet in the area.
Thanks for any help.

 

[tammye]

maggots look like worms, if they are crawling bugs they may be lice/mites and you would want to use a poultry dust on her. A good cleaning will help alot, keep her separated from the others until all bugs are gone. If she has been with the others you should check them/dust them too

 

[tstoikes]

Dusting the living quarters is great or spray. The old timers painted the roosts with used motor oil I guess it smoothered the lice. I add DE (diatomos earth - the spelling isn't right) to the sand and if you get the food grade put some in their feed.
But for the right now with your hen. Warm bath is a great idea - I'd use Ivory or some other gentle soap since she is irritated. Or baby shampoo. I would think some sort of lotion would help but it would have to be non toxic. Then just keep her warm for a few days and see if she improves.... How is her appetite? Yoghurt is something my birds like, crumbled hard boiled egg as well. If she is really weak I would suggest Nutri drench or sugar water. Some of the other folks on this forum could probably give you better information as I am barely out of the novice stage myself.
Good Luck

 

[canuck chicken]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm about to fit out a dog cage for her so she can rest after her bath. I'll put in a dish of yogurt and some treats and see how it goes.

 

[Lazyhead]

Maggots you need to pick off with tweezers. Wash her really well and try to pick them all off. Make sure your coop is clean and not full of flies.

 

[canuck chicken]

Once I got her cleaned up the site looked really bad. The maggots seemed to be coming from inside of her and I decided that rather than letting her suffer while I was messing around trying to cure her and no bird vet around that the best thing to do would be to euthanize her. I gave her a soak in some lidocaine and benzocaine and this sedated her so I could take her to be euthanized. Her best feathered friend seems very sad without her.

 

[Love my Critters!]

Very sorry