Please Help!!!

[Mcmango72]

My chicken is four years old. She hasn’t had anything wrong with her until recently. She was acting strange, so I picked her up and he noticed her crop was very soft and mushy so I assumed it was sour crap. I have been given her Monistat 7 and I’ve been flushing her crop out with warm water. I’ve been using apple cider vinegar in the water and it seemed like yesterday her crop looked better but she was just standing there not very active so I knew something was wrong. This morning she had dark, diarrhea in the coop and it had a foul smell. The poop is dark so when I went to examine it, and I noticed there were worms in it. Took a picture can somebody please help me? I don’t know what to do and I’m hoping the other birds are my flock aren’t affected. If it’s a tapeworm or whatever she doesn’t look like she’s gonna live much longer her comb is a little bit purple. I didn’t have any medication to give her, but I did try a little bit of ivermectin. I figured it couldn’t hurt at this point does anybody know what’s going on with my chicken and if there’s anything I can do.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

@azygous @Wyorp Rock

 

[coach723]

Those appear to be maggots. You need to examine your bird thoroughly around the vent especially, look for any wounds, and maggots, that would mean fly strike, which is very serious. The other possibility is that those were deposited by a flying insect and hatched after the dropping was on the ground. They are not internal parasites. Fly strike often happens if a bird has droppings, particularly runny, building up and sticking to vent feathers.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is some reading about fly strike if you chicken has maggots on her vent:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

 

[Mcmango72]

Those appear to be maggots. You need to examine your bird thoroughly around the vent especially, look for any wounds, and maggots, that would mean fly strike, which is very serious. The other possibility is that those were deposited by a flying insect and hatched after the dropping was on the ground. They are not internal parasites. Fly strike often happens if a bird has droppings, particularly runny, building up and sticking to vent feathers.

I didn’t see any maggots around her vent, but it’s very dirty so it’s hard to see if there’s any injury. How would you treat fly strike?

 

[coach723]

I would give her a warm soak, epsom salts, diluted chlorhexidine, betadine, or mild dish soap, soften up all the gunk and get it cleaned up, so you can see what, if anything, you are dealing with. You will need to dry her thoroughly after. If there are maggots, they will likely show up in the soak water. If you find maggots, you need to flush it out really well and remove every maggot you can find. If they are there, then you will need to repeat that, over and over, until you get them all. They can continue to hatch and appear for a while, may take several days to make sure you get them all. They hatch and feed on the bird. They will eat the bird alive and leave a toxin behind that will make her very sick. Then apply a plain triple antibiotic ointment to the area generously, to keep it covered and moist. Reapply as needed. She will need to stay where flies cannot get to her until all is healed up completely.
Here is an article on one fly strike case where the bird recovered, with their treatment:
https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flystrike-a-chicken-killer-cuddles-beats-the-odds-again/

 

[Mcmango72]

Here is some reading about fly strike if you chicken has maggots on her vent:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

Thank you so much!!!

 

[Mcmango72]

I would give her a warm soak, epsom salts, diluted chlorhexidine, betadine, or mild dish soap, soften up all the gunk and get it cleaned up, so you can see what, if anything, you are dealing with. You will need to dry her thoroughly after. If there are maggots, they will likely show up in the soak water. If you find maggots, you need to flush it out really well and remove every maggot you can find. If they are there, then you will need to repeat that, over and over, until you get them all. They can continue to hatch and appear for a while, may take several days to make sure you get them all. They hatch and feed on the bird. They will eat the bird alive and leave a toxin behind that will make her very sick. Then apply a plain triple antibiotic ointment to the area generously, to keep it covered and moist. Reapply as needed. She will need to stay where flies cannot get to her until all is healed up completely.
Here is an article on one fly strike case where the bird recovered, with their treatment:
https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flystrike-a-chicken-killer-cuddles-beats-the-odds-again/

Thank you

 

[Mcmango72]

Thank you so much!!!

You’re 100% right I just checked and I saw the maggots

 

[Eggcessive]

It is very important to get her soaking right away, and remove all of the maggots. They can continue to hatch out from the eggs over at least 24 hours, so repeated warm soaks will be necessary. Use whatever you have—Dawn, Epsom salts, Betadine, etc. Many chickens who get this can have an underlying problem, but the caked droppings on the vent in warm weather where flies are around is where the danger of fly strike is.