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/

 

[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

 

[Weeg]

The above post is exactly right, do you have a defuser by chance? If it were me, I would defuse Citronella essential oil into the air to help deter fly's.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does it seem that the flystrike was above the vent? It is hard to tell from the picture. What is the bulging area at the bottom in the first picture? Let us know how she is doing.

 

[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!
I was horrified to find her abdomen covered with a layer of maggots about 1/2 inch thick.
I removed all that I could find and then bathed her in a fresh bath. I sprayed her with Veterycin and put her in the kitchen in a clean crate with scrambled egg and Nutridrench and water with electrolytes. I checked on her hourly but no worms for now .

The above post is exactly right, do you have a defuser by chance? If it were me, I would defuse Citronella essential oil into the air to help deter fly's.

I don't but I will look for one. And for citronella oil.

 

[jonalisa]

Does it seem that the flystrike was above the vent? It is hard to tell from the picture. What is the bulging area at the bottom in the first picture? Let us know how she is doing.

The top brown area is hard and dried up but not crunchy like a scab. Seems deeper than a scab would be. It's tough and dry to the touch. Never seen anything like it before. The, bottom bulging area is where the majority of the maggots were. So gross.

 

[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!

 

[kathy32]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flystrike-please-help.1482008/

This is my post, the advice was very useful!