Seems egg bound, smells dreadful, plus blood and maybe maggots, but she's still perky

[Flockandfowl46]

I hope your hen pulls through hun

 

[rebrascora]

I'm usually the first to suggest Marek's but I don't think it is the case here.

Have you checked for abdominal swelling or bloat? Cup you hand between her legs and feel there and below her vent for any fullness. Compare by feeling other chickens when they are roosting if you are not sure. My feeling is that she has had a prolapse which has caused the tear and blood, but she may also have fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome going on. The fly strike is usually as a result of a soiled butt, which is usually because there is some abdominal swelling.
Can you trim the feathers around her vent.... it will make keeping her clean easier as well as taking a clear photo easier. Another photo showing her whole backend ideally in an upright position. Tipping her upside down will put a lot of strain on her respiratory system, especially if she has ascites due to liver haemorrhage as I suspect. I would encourage you to stop feeding your chickens corn. They are getting enough treats with free ranging and all that fruit which is already high in carbohydrates without adding empty calories from corn as well. I think a dietary imbalance may be causing her issues. I appreciate that you are offering her anything at the moment just to get her to eat, but corn every day is not good and they will eat it in preference to layer pellets every day of the week, so the more they eat of that the less they get of their formulat5ed ration that has all the essential nutrients they need to stay healthy. High levels of carbohydrates cause the body to produce fat which it deposits in the abdomen but sometimes molecules of fat also get deposited throughout the liver causing it to become weak and haemorrhage or sometimes even rupture. In less serious cases of haemorrhage, this can lead to ascites which is a build up of fluid in the abdomen..... this puts pressure on the internal organs like the intestines, heart and lungs/respiratory system. I may be wrong and if her belly is not swollen I most likely am, but it would tie in with the other issues she has been having.

The stench will almost certainly be an internal infection but I think this is probably a lot more complicated than coccidiosis. If the stench is coming from her back end, I would guess that either her abdominal cavity has been breached by the maggots or she has a digestive tract infection. I appreciate what you are saying about her still having some life and spirit but I think this issue will be the end of her and I'm not sure a vet could help although a round of Antibiotics might be worth a try. I would really like to see a clear shot of her back end and an answer to the question about abdominal bloat....which we might be able to see if feathers were trimmed. I also would like to know the extent of the tear or wound. On the photo it appears to be completely separate of the vent, but it isn't a great photo, so I may be mistaken in that.

 

[Siyabonga Mama]

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice. I will try to keep today's update short - don't want to wear out your patience!

The good news: She is still alive, no longer so horrendously stinky, and the diarrhea seems to have cleared up. I offered her a mix of corn and layer pellets, and she was eager to eat. (Thank you Rebrascora for the advice re corn - in future I'll offer it only in winter when the garden is bare and frozen ... unless the new compost heap offers enough variety.)
The bad news: She still won't / can't stand or walk. Also, I've noticed her doing an odd thing, hard to describe. Now and then she'll thrust her head forward and then flop her neck and head flat down on the ground. She'll do it just a couple times, then go back to pecking. I've googled gapeworm and I don't think it's that ... I'm starting to wonder about neurological issues. But the more I read about chicken medical emergencies, the more often I see the comment, "My chicken did that too - it's weird, I don't know what it was - then it stopped and she's fine." So this may be just one of life's mysteries.

Rebrascora, I'll examine and photograph her per your suggestions next time I check her. (I've just had her out and she's resting.) Thank you!

Would it hurt to treat with Corid anyway? I'm thinking that I need to tackle the mite issue soon - the smoke from fires is really bad right now so we're avoiding being outdoors, but in a week or so I could treat them all for mites, plus Corid, plus Valbazen, and repeat every 10 days for three sessions. Would that overload their systems? These are very mellow chickens and seem pretty unflappable ... I am IN LOVE with Sex Links!

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks for the updates. They may prove very helpful to others down the road who encounter similar circumstances.

 

[Siyabonga Mama]

Well, it's official. I am the worst chicken mama ever.

My lady Just continued to deteriorate ... At first taking her outside for a half hour or so of time in clover and sunshine seemed to perk her up and give her an appetite, but she lost interest over the last couple days. She still didn't walk or stand. After very eagerly tucking into her food a few days ago she seemed to stop eating as well. She didn't seem to be suffering, although I noticed she seemed to be breathing a bit harder than usual ... so maybe I'm just stupid. I'd pretty much decided to put her down but the issue was timing; the vet school wanted around $150 for a necropsy, and when I eventually found a chicken vet she wanted $90, and we'd decided that was more than we wanted to spend unless more chickens developed similar symptoms. So we decided we'd euthanize her today and open her up and see what we could see.

Anyway. She died last night and this afternoon when we went to take her outside to look inside, her butt area was just crawling with maggots. I guess it was flystrike after all ... Someone suggested that early on, but apart from a few maggots in the water the first time I bathed her, I saw no sign of them - even when I washed her VERY thoroughly. They must have been way up inside of her.

I'm relieved that it wasn't Marek's ... I'm going out on a limb and assuming she couldn't have had Marek's AND been eaten alive by maggots. But I feel sick and guilty and awful.

Moral of the story: Chickens don't scream.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry... Had a feeling. Next time you'll know.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Im so sorry you lost your sweet girl. Bear hugs!

 

[fur-mum]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[staceyj]

Awwww
You’re not a bad chicken momma. You gave her love and care.
Every day it amazes me how much we learn from them.
She taught you many things that you’ll carry with you as you care for the rest of your flock in the future.