- Oct 26, 2007
- 683
- 9
- 161
I have a 9 and 1/2 year old Black Australorp hen. She doesn't lay anymore. She's always been a little short of breath, but has always kept up with the others......just needing to sit down fairly often.
She seemed to keep away from the others the other day, so I checked her out. Under her vent was a wound filled with maggots. Yuk. I picked them out and flushed the hole (about 1" deep and wide) with a diluted betadine solution and then filled the hole with triple antibiotic ointment. I have her in a crate and plan on flushing the wound daily and refilling it with ointment. I also started her on baytril 22.7mg bid.
The vent area in all my older hens is sagging......which is to be expected. But next to this wound are several red nodule-type bumps about the size of peas. They are soft. I guess at this point I don't want to go digging around in there with a needle. I will keep my eye on them. When I've had chickens in the past with abscesses, they were hard.
Any suggestions about those nodules? Hopefully if they are infected, the baytril will get to them.
This isn't my first go-round with nursing a chicken back to health, but it is my first maggot-filled wound. I have the feeling that her immune system is probably weak, plus she sits alot.........so maybe some insect bit her and it got infected and the flies found it........I just don't know. I have added diatomaceous earth to her bedding in the crate.
Do I seem to be doing the right things?
Thanks for your help.
She seemed to keep away from the others the other day, so I checked her out. Under her vent was a wound filled with maggots. Yuk. I picked them out and flushed the hole (about 1" deep and wide) with a diluted betadine solution and then filled the hole with triple antibiotic ointment. I have her in a crate and plan on flushing the wound daily and refilling it with ointment. I also started her on baytril 22.7mg bid.
The vent area in all my older hens is sagging......which is to be expected. But next to this wound are several red nodule-type bumps about the size of peas. They are soft. I guess at this point I don't want to go digging around in there with a needle. I will keep my eye on them. When I've had chickens in the past with abscesses, they were hard.
Any suggestions about those nodules? Hopefully if they are infected, the baytril will get to them.
This isn't my first go-round with nursing a chicken back to health, but it is my first maggot-filled wound. I have the feeling that her immune system is probably weak, plus she sits alot.........so maybe some insect bit her and it got infected and the flies found it........I just don't know. I have added diatomaceous earth to her bedding in the crate.
Do I seem to be doing the right things?
Thanks for your help.
