Severe flystrike, urgent!

[jonalisa]

My hen has severe flystrike which i didn't even know about until now.
She has maggots infestation all on her backside.
I shampooed her because I thought it was just poop build-up. I have her in the sink and am bathing in epsom salts but there are many embedded in the skin. I am typing this as I bathe her. I think there is some necrosis - flesh in one spot is gray.

Please help, urgent!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Okay, this can be deadly. The best way to manage it is to soak her several times a day to get all live maggots off. They may continue to hatch out over the next day or so. Once they stop appearing, then it is basically just first aid, cleaning and applying plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment until it heals. The danger is that if not discovered early, the maggots can get inside and kill her.

Soaking in saline, soapy water, Betadine, chlorhexidene, or Epsom salts is all good. Some spray with permethrin to immediately kill any maggots. Some say to use antibiotic ointment on it to smother maggots, while others say to use Vetericyn or chlorhexidene disinfectant. I hope that you can save her, and this is a common occurrence during hot weather with flies, if they get a wound or a poopy vent. Getting her to eat some nutritious food and egg or tuna would be good between treatments.


This is one of the better articles on flystrike:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

 

[kathy32]

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I saw this for the first time about a month ago and received excellent advice here. My hen also had a bulge like yours - basically the maggots had eaten through to her abdominal cavity and that is the lining puffing out. If you can get her to a vet I would highly recommend it. Be aware that the maggots will likely reappear in huge numbers - check her several times a day thoroughly and be ready to rebathe her multiple times a day. If she seems too far gone or you aren't able to put that much time into it I would euthanize her so she doesn't suffer. I will try to link to my post with info and pictures. You have my sympathy, its a really awful thing!

 

[jonalisa]

My $.02 worth: make sure you keep her away from any more flies while she's recovering...

Yes, she's been in the house in a nylon crate with netting sides, since day one.

Those ointments should help to prevent infection. Time will tell if she survives this. Congrats on the new puppy. My puppy is 7 months old now, and a real handful. Wishing you luck and hoping things get better.

Mine is 10 weeks and towers over my dachshund. She is several handfuls and then some.

 

[jonalisa]

Okay, this can be deadly. The best way to manage it is to soak her several times a day to get all live maggots off. They may continue to hatch out over the next day or so. Once they stop appearing, then it is basically just first aid, cleaning and applying plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment until it heals. The danger is that if not discovered early, the maggots can get inside and kill her.

Soaking in saline, soapy water, Betadine, chlorhexidene, or Epsom salts is all good. Some spray with permethrin to immediately kill any maggots. Some say to use antibiotic ointment on it to smother maggots, while others say to use Vetericyn or chlorhexidene disinfectant. I hope that you can save her, and this is a common occurrence during hot weather with flies, if they get a wound or a poopy vent. Getting her to eat some nutritious food and egg or tuna would be good between treatments.


This is one of the better articles on flystrike:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

Thank you so much Eggcessive!

Okay, this can be deadly. The best way to manage it is to soak her several times a day to get all live maggots off. They may continue to hatch out over the next day or so. Once they stop appearing, then it is basically just first aid, cleaning and applying plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment until it heals. The danger is that if not discovered early, the maggots can get inside and kill her.

Soaking in saline, soapy water, Betadine, chlorhexidene, or Epsom salts is all good. Some spray with permethrin to immediately kill any maggots. Some say to use antibiotic ointment on it to smother maggots, while others say to use Vetericyn or chlorhexidene disinfectant. I hope that you can save her, and this is a common occurrence during hot weather with flies, if they get a wound or a poopy vent. Getting her to eat some nutritious food and egg or tuna would be good between treatments.


This is one of the better articles on flystrike:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

Thanks so much!
I bathed her while removing all maggots by hand and by tweezers.
She's shampooed and dried and resting in a crate. She looks like there is definitely some damage.

 

[Ascholten]

Keep it clean, and watch out for more. They WILL be back until that heals up. Dead flesh is a sirens call to flies, especially if it's got something soft and warm with it too.

Aaron

 

[Swbertrand1]

My $.02 worth: make sure you keep her away from any more flies while she's recovering...

 

[jonalisa]

Check for parasites? That’s the most common reason for head shaking I’ve seen.

She has since stopped and doing very well, but she's in my kitchen and I'm always with her...watching.

 

[Eggcessive]

Peroxide will prevent healing and damage tissue with repeated use. I would continue the Neosporin for a bit longer, especially if she is with the others. Most wounds need to be kept moist until they are healing. But you could try just the Vetericyn if you like.

 

[paramedicaa]

This is a feel good story. This is Miss Ruby. 4 y/o Gold Sex Link. One of my original girls. Apparently she’s REALLY good at hiding illness. I see my girls every day and never a hint anything was wrong until I noticed she was moving a little slow. This is what I found!!! (The red circle is the area that was all the way down to the intestines. The next larger layer was her abdominal wall, then her outer skin.) Had I not been out the door for a 12 hour night shift, I would've culled her immediately. I soaked her in a warm bath to get as many maggots off as I could. I put her in a warm crate a prayed she’d be alive come morning. I got home and she was still with us. I had a talk with her and we decided to fight this. I soaked her again in a warm tub in the morning (picture) to drown as many maggots as I could. I would empty the tub and refill with clean water multiple times until no more maggots came off of her. I also used the sprayer on the faucet to get as many off as possible. I then laid her on her back on a towel and began picking maggots off one by one. There were only about 20 left on her by this point. We then went into the bathroom and got a dry from the hairdryer. I sat her on a heating pad (on low with a thick towel on top) and let her rest. After she slept for a few hours, I gave her some oral liquids. (Look up “tube feeding chicken” on YouTube.) She understandably wasn’t interested in food, so we just focused on fluids. I had some Gatorade, which I watered down, and she drank a bunch. Then she rested some more. We did this every morning and every evening for the next 3 days until we were confident the maggots were gone. By now she was eating little bits of scrambled eggs. Still no energy to get up and more around though. I knew she needed mental healing as well, so I plopped her in front of the sliding glass door so she could see her flock. I threw scratch out on the patio in front of her. As they were pecking at it, Miss Ruby perked up and started eating her eggs. Little by little, she was gaining strength. She started to poop again. We continued baths every day for the next week and she did great. So we’ll in fact that we moved her into Chicken Step Down (from Chicken ICU). She did so well! Our routine was: epsom salt bath, dry with hairdryer, Veterycin Plus spray, then back to rest. She had water with vitamins from the pet store and her normal feed with some grub treats for extra protein. About 2 weeks into this routine, her wound was starting to heal. I researched EVERYWHERE what to do next. Some said BluKote, some said triple antibiotic. I came across one suggestion of Alushield. I throughly researched its use and decided this is what she needed. So, I gave her a bath, dried her off, and applied the spray. That was 2 weeks ago. As of this past weeks (3 weeks gone by), she is back with her flock and doing GREAT! I check her belly every day and not a single sign of issues. In fact, her feathers are coming back! I trim off the pieces of aluminum that have peeled back due to new skin growing in underneath. There is still a chunk on her belly because the skin has not full grown in there yet. When it does, it will fall off. I am so proud of Miss Ruby! She fought and I helped her as best I could. Love my little girl.