Something weird and gross

[flocksalot]

Tonight I was counting birds and noticed that our Black Star had some goopy looking stuff on her bum. I saw yesterday that she wasn't as spry as normal, but was busy and didn't get a chance to really check her out. I pulled her off the perch and took her over too the hose to rinse her off and check her out. As I started to clean her I noticed maggots begin to pour our of a hole she had from about an inch above her vent too up a good 2 inches. Her intestines were bulging out, but not actually protruding. I cleaned her as best I could and picked off as many as I could of the maggots. Then I waited until we had tended to the rest of the flocks before proceeding to see if she could be saved.

I got my husband to hold her with her legs spread so I could really examine her. Once her spread her legs I could see she was leaking fluid from her intestines and that she was full of maggots. I could see them crawling under her skin, so I knew she was pretty necrotic. The weird thing was she appeared healthy and had been laying fine until a few days ago. She was three years old and layed 3 to 4 eggs a week. We opted to dispatch her as I felt that trying to keep her was more than either she or I could bare. Honestly, those maggots really grossed me out, but with the leaking intestine I felt there was no chance for survival.

I'm not sure as to what could have caused this. We do have predators around, but they are usually there at night locked out of the coops. We count our chickens so we know if someone (usually broody) is missing and go in search of them. Star had never been broody and appeared to be in the best of health. She was one of the early to bed girls always getting one of the prime spots. She was gorgeous, glossy, and always on the go. Any ideas as to what could have happened? I was thinking a predator got her but I've never seen one bite them just in the belly. I checked her over real well after wards and she had no other marks on her.

We aren't eating her as I just do not eat sick or seriously wounded animals. I'm just curious if this has happened to someone else and what they thought it was. We will be on the lookout for predators, but generally the girls will let us know if one is around as they all gang up on them. They love a good rat smack down, but in the last week or so they haven't had one that I'm aware of and 200+ chickens chasing each other playing keep away with a live kicking Norway rat is pretty noticeable. It's even noticeable when it's a tiny elephant mouse. Also the ground is pretty wet right now and has been for the last several days, so I would have noted any animal tracks as I'm always on the look out for them, and move the traps post hast.

Sorry no pics as currently I am cameraless

 

[Kikiriki]

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/flies/screwworm/


Sounds like this...maybe contact your state ag department.

 

[nurse_turtle]

That screwworm thing doesn't exist in WI. That being said, she could have had an internal process/infection that made its way to the surface. More likely it started with external injury. I can imagine her jumping down from some height and landing on a stick or other object that pierced her skin which became infected which attracted maggots which tunneled into her abdomen. I'm really glad you euthanized her. I would have done the same thing without second thought.

 

[Kikiriki]

From the first paragraph of the article I included:

"During summer it may occur as far north as southern Canada, probably due to the transport of infested animals."


Another link to a pdf from california ag dept:  http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/Animal_Health/pdfs/Screwworm_Fact_Sheet.pdf

It states:  

"Transmission
An adult screwworm fly can travel up to 125 miles before laying eggs in a wound. The screwworm can also be transported by animals and people from areas in Central and South America where screwworm is found.

As the larvae feed on live tissue, they burrow deeper into the tissue creating a deeper and wider wound. This deep burrowing is a distinctive feature of screwworms; all other maggots are surface feeders on dead tissue.

Clinical Signs
Animals infested with screwworms may show wounds with foul-smelling odor and weight loss.

Control
Animal owners should remain vigilant and report any unusual looking wounds or maggots on livestock or pets to their local veterinarian. The veterinarian will examine, collect and send a sample of suspicious larvae to the laboratory for identification. If screwworm is diagnosed and confirmed, animal health officials will quarantine the animal. Daily wound care, larvicidals, and treatment with an insecticide are necessary to completely control the screwworm larvae.
The United States Department of Agriculture will investigate cases and determine if additional control measures, such as insecticidal treatment of the environment and sterile fly release, are warranted."

In WI even a suspected case of screwworm is supposed to be reported by a veterinarian within 10 days, if OP had taken the bird to a vet.

So if anyone gets this kind of wound (in an animal or even a person) and is within 150 mile of an area with imported livestock or migrant farm workers from Central or South America they could very well have a localized infestation which is why I suggest contacting the ag department.  

The description is exact, even down to the hole.  It is a serious enough problem that the ag department should be given a heads up that there may be an infestation in the area, in my opinion.  If not then okay that's great, but if so the OPs animals are at risk and perhaps neighboring farms, as well.

 

[flocksalot]

Well definantely not screw worm. It was maggots for sure. Same thing we find in dead animals. The following night we heard the roosters in the outside coop start up and found a cat coming out of the coop. Turns out the cat had gotten another chicken in almost the same spot as Star. I was able to stitch her back up and she has healed fine. I hadn't turned the lights on in the coop early enough and the result was the cat slinking in. Anyone that says a cat won't kill a large hen is wrong. Anyway we saw the cat a few nights later and my husband shot it.

Maggots can hatch in as little as 2 hours in warm moist areas. Star was definantly warm and her open wound was moist. They don't eat live tissue, but will feast on necrotic tissue. Her leaking intestines were perfect for them. Also she was probably getting infection which kills tissue, so they could continue to move deeper into her.

We've had no problems since and have had a few girls get injured here and there. They love to get into all kinds of things they shouldn't and go every where we tell them NO. They are just like naughty children sometimes.

By the way the only predator loss we have ever experienced was from a cat. We catch all kinds of things in our live traps, so we know we have many other predators around. They are just not brave enough to come around while we are there. The cats are.

 

[Kikiriki]

Screw worms are maggots. They look like regular maggots unless you look at one up close or with a magnifying glass and then you can see they have two black hooks or claws on one end that are used for burrowing into flesh. They produce a toxin to kill living flesh which is why they are worse than regular maggots. Regular maggots only feed on flesh that is already dead. The screw worms actively burrow killing more tissue as they go and creating a larger and larger pocket in the flesh. The mother fly will lay her eggs at an injury site as small as a tick bite, but the end result can be deadly. You can have both screw worms and ordinary maggots present at the same wound.

The fly they turn into is about 2mm larger than a regular fly, has blue to blue green irridescent color, with three distinct stips down the back.

Wisconsin had a very warm wet early spring. Migratory birds flew back from south and central america early. Some of these birds travel right through the heart of the US and some do make the trip fast enough to carry the larvae from there, where the fly is still common. The timing of your hens death is correct for an infestation carried to the state in late march to early april when the birds returned.

If I were in your place, I would rather be overcautious than ignore a danger to my and my neighbors farms. Screw worms are such a threat to livestock that they are still monitored and still actively treated here in the US. An outbreak on the African continent spread over thousands of miles in one season because they had no control program.

At the least, I would alert my ag department to the possibility, set up extra fly controls, and check my entire flock for the presence of a hole type wound. The wound may seep brown fluid as the maggots grow and kill more tissue.

But, you do what you think is best, and I will just hope a cat managed to puncture your hen with a single claw right through to her abdominal cavity.

 

[flocksalot]

Well since the second hen that was injured was tore open to the intestines (but they weren't leaking like the first) then yes I do believe that the cat did do the damage. Especially since the second hen is very much a pest and constantly trying to get picked up. We would have noticed any injury on her right away. Also the second hen was freshly bleeding. It was a big hole not a little scratch. It took about 20 stitches to close her up good, so I didn't have to worry about bugs. There was no way she was leaving her coop, so she had to be set to heal. Had we of had the problem with this fly I would think that they would have also have gotten into the cut on one of the horses, or the chicken that scraped her back climbing out of the neighbors compost site, or even the turkey that had his snood tore to shreds by one of the sassy girls. These things all occured within that time frame. It was also the reason I didn't check Star our real well the first night. I was busy tending to other more pressing problems. Since none of them have had any problems, or any other injuries(hens combs from fiesty young roosters) since. We have a lot of animals on our farm which means that we deal with various things daily. Had there of been something like what you say we would have seen more than one case. And had that of happened I for sure would be following up with every agency known to man. These birds aren't just livestock. They are my 8 year olds pets.

Also the maggots never got the chance to mature as we incinerate all dead animals. I'm glad you brought this problem to everyones attention, as it can be quite severe. I still say what we had was just a case of plain ole maggots feasting on necrotic tissue due to an injury. I just don't believe that it would only hit one chicken and leave every thing else alone. I'm not taking a chicken to the vet. I see maggots I kill em and burn em. Now if it were two chickens that would be different. But one just doesn't look suspicious enough for me to warrant me going into alarmist mode.