Post fly strike stench, infection?

[casportpony]

I enlarged the pictures. @Folly's place, would you check under the scab for maggots?

 

[Meg7730]

Here are her post batch pics. Thank you so much for your help and adjust ! She has an appointment tomorrow afternoon and I will let you know the outcome.

Meg, you did a fantastic job of cleaning her up, and it is a horrible smelly thing to face. And doing it while pregnant? Wow!
I am afraid that your hen won't do well, because of her underlying illness.
All the best,
Mary

It was the grossest thing I’ve ever done. I am definitely in the “morning sickness” all day phase. Which sucks, but is also good because I’ve been home from work and regardless of what happens I got to spend some time with DeeDee

 

[Meg7730]

I'm wondering if there are fly eggs there too. Trim anything suspicious off today!
It can be difficult to find all the little monsters, so look again.
Mary

I keep checking her and haven’t seen anymore maggots since Saturday morning...she’s had a couple of baths a day and is in a little corner inside

 

[casportpony]

It was the grossest thing I’ve ever done. I am definitely in the “morning sickness” all day phase. Which sucks, but is also good because I’ve been home from work and regardless of what happens I got to spend some time with DeeDee

I agree, grossest thing I've done too. Add being pregnant? , I cannot imagine.

 

[Folly's place]

Usually the maggots won't be under a scab, because they will have eaten it too. I was worried about those 'little white things' on the feather shafts. If they are fly eggs they hatch within one day, so hopefully you've killed everything.
Again, very good work!
Mary

 

[theuncarvedblock]

Hello! Just curious if you saw the vet and what they said. We are currently going through a similar situation with our Poppy. She had a nasty case of fly strike, and hasa huge swollen bum. So I'm concerned that she might have prolapse that led to the fly strike.

 

[rebrascora]

@theuncarvedblock

The swelling is almost certainly due to something other than the fly strike. Prolapse doesn't cause a huge amount of swelling, just protruding tissue which is pretty obvious. My guess would be that your Poppy probably has a reproductive issue going on like Salpingitis or perhaps internal laying or both. The swelling causes the poop to soil the feathers (normally the poop falls clear but as the swelling below the vent increases it starts to snag) and the flies lay eggs in the poop which has usually irritated the skin and the maggots hatch and eat into the sore.
Unfortunately, the reproductive problem will most likely prove fatal sooner or later. Can you post a photo of it? Does the swelling extend to hanging low between her legs as that usually indicates ascites (water belly) and it can be drained to give some short term relief. If it is more to the back below the vent and solid feeling then my guess would be salpingitis and you would be wise to prepare to euthanize when her quality of life becomes untenable. The swelling (usually a huge mass of infected egg material) will start to constrict her gut and she will be unable to poop (only white runny urates from the kidneys will be expelled) and her crop will become slow as her system gets backed up and she will die of toxic shock because she cannot pass waste. Once they lose interest in food, it is usually time to help them over the final hurdle.
I appreciate that I am painting a very bleak picture here without even seeing the bird, but these issues are sadly very common in hens and when you have opened one up after death and seen these masses inside them that cause the swelling, you realise how hopeless the situation is and how much discomfort they must be in.

I am not suggesting you euthanize your bird immediately, but look into the ailments I have mentioned and the symptoms I have described and be prepared to help her end it when the time comes.

 

[theuncarvedblock]

Thank you for your reply. The swelling is directly below the vent. It doesn't seem to be low between her legs.

I've been reading about salpingitis.

So far, she is eating and drinking like normal. And her poops seem to be improving. When I first found the problem (on Wednesday,) her poops were very runny. Her poops now aren't quite normal - not as large - but they do seem to be more normal consistency. Also, her personality is still normal - she's very talkative and chirps back when you talk to her.

I took a quick photo just now when I took her out of the cage to apply the vetricyn. It looks REALLY horrible - but is actually a huge improvement from what it looked like on Wednesday.

Thank you again for your reply. I appreciate your insight and your honesty.

 

[theuncarvedblock]

@theuncarvedblock

The swelling is almost certainly due to something other than the fly strike. Prolapse doesn't cause a huge amount of swelling, just protruding tissue which is pretty obvious. My guess would be that your Poppy probably has a reproductive issue going on like Salpingitis or perhaps internal laying or both. The swelling causes the poop to soil the feathers (normally the poop falls clear but as the swelling below the vent increases it starts to snag) and the flies lay eggs in the poop which has usually irritated the skin and the maggots hatch and eat into the sore.
Unfortunately, the reproductive problem will most likely prove fatal sooner or later. Can you post a photo of it? Does the swelling extend to hanging low between her legs as that usually indicates ascites (water belly) and it can be drained to give some short term relief. If it is more to the back below the vent and solid feeling then my guess would be salpingitis and you would be wise to prepare to euthanize when her quality of life becomes untenable. The swelling (usually a huge mass of infected egg material) will start to constrict her gut and she will be unable to poop (only white runny urates from the kidneys will be expelled) and her crop will become slow as her system gets backed up and she will die of toxic shock because she cannot pass waste. Once they lose interest in food, it is usually time to help them over the final hurdle.
I appreciate that I am painting a very bleak picture here without even seeing the bird, but these issues are sadly very common in hens and when you have opened one up after death and seen these masses inside them that cause the swelling, you realise how hopeless the situation is and how much discomfort they must be in.

I am not suggesting you euthanize your bird immediately, but look into the ailments I have mentioned and the symptoms I have described and be prepared to help her end it when the time comes.

 

[rebrascora]

It would appear from those photos that her abdominal cavity has been breached. That mass protruding out appears to be her oviduct which looks to be impacted with lash egg material. I cannot imagine the skin ever being able to grow over and close up that hole and even if it did, the salpingitis is going to kill her. I appreciate what you are saying about her being quite chirpy and I know you have done a great job to get her this far, but I really feel that she is living on borrowed time and cannot begin to imagine a way that she can come back from this.
The likelihood is that the oviduct impaction has been pushed back out of that hole a little allowing poop to push through the constriction of the lower gut and be eliminated (hence she is pooping better) but with her back body open like that it is only a matter of time before infection sets in or flies lay eggs again or tissue becomes necrotic or her whole back end ruptures out.
I'm sorry to paint such a negative picture of the situation but my advice would be to start preparing to euthanize ..... I don't know if you would do it yourselves or take her to the vets for that..... it may need to be done on the weekend when vets are closed so worth bearing that in mind. Having had one rupture and die myself and feeling guilty that I didn't end it sooner for her because it must have been an agonising death, I would recommend not delaying, but I can understand that you will want to hang onto hope as long as she is looking perky. If that is the case, I would watch for her going off her food and use that as the point for calling it a day.

Hopefully other experienced members of BYC will offer their considered opinion to help you come to a rational decision. I would not want anyone to make such a decision based on just one response..... or the best course of action would be to visit a vet if you can afford/justify it.