Worms?

[janamacdon]

Hi all-
I’m hoping someone can help. We have an older hen who has been lethargic and having diarrhea. We just thought she was exhibiting signs of old age. She’s had a pasty butt, so last week we cleaned her off, but because she has diarrhea, her but was nasty again. When we soaked her again today, we noticed that her vent area was raw and there were tiny worms all around that area? We don’t know we can do to help her. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Hi all-
I’m hoping someone can help. We have an older hen who has been lethargic and having diarrhea. We just thought she was exhibiting signs of old age. She’s had a pasty butt, so last week we cleaned her off, but because she has diarrhea, her but was nasty again. When we soaked her again today, we noticed that her vent area was raw and there were tiny worms all around that area? We don’t know we can do to help her. Any suggestions? Thanks! View attachment 2337814

Those look like maggots. How long has her butt been raw and she been unable to clean herself? She could have something wrong there like an injury or a mass coming from her vent or female organs or her waste removing organs. Something seems very wrong and she could possibly be very ill.

 

[Eggcessive]

That sounds like maggots and flystrike. They will eat at the skin, so you need to get her into a pan of warm soapy water to soak, and gett all of the maggots off that are seen. Take some tweezers and use them. A magnifying glass might help. I would try to get some SWAT gel or permethrin spray from the feed store soon and spray or apply to her vent area to kill the maggots. More will hatch in the next 24 hours. Repeat the soak 2-3 times a day until they are gone. Use a disinfectant as well, perhaps a little betadine or hibiclens in the water.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

That sounds like maggots and flystrike. They will eat at the skin, so you need to get her into a pan of warm soapy water to soak, and gett all of the maggots off that are seen. Take some tweezers and use them. A magnifying glass might help. I would try to get some SWAT gel or permethrin spray from the feed store soon and spray or apply to her vent area to kill the maggots. More will hatch in the next 24 hours. Repeat the soak 2-3 times a day until they are gone. Use a disinfectant as well, perhaps a little betadine or hibiclens in the water.

You need to soak her in Dawn dish washing soap and warm water as long as she can tolerate this first to kill the maggots. Be sure she doesn’t have a bad injury before you apply the betadine. It will burn badly if you do. It is a necessity to clean the wound or the problem with a disinfectant if she has one or what’s causing the maggots and fly buildup. If you had some Vetericyn plus that is awesome.

 

[Eggcessive]

If the betadine is diluted in the soak water, it will not burn. Hibiclens or chlorhexidene is diluted half strength and can be applied or spray on the vent. Most anything will help to kill the maggots on the skin once it is wet, but the permethrin or SWAT for horse, will kill them and keep killing them as they hatch. Here is a good article about flystrike:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/
Treating your coop and run for flies might help to prevent others from having this, along with keeping watch on any soiled vents. I hope that she survives and gets better.

 

[janamacdon]

Thank you all! It seems to have been flystrike. I did what you suggested and she has improved very much. Today as I was inspecting her poop in her chicken hospital, I found this. It appeared to come out with her poop and is squishy, but solid. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

[coach723]

That is a lash egg, it's caused by an infection/inflammation of the oviduct, called salpingitis.
Birds with salpingitis can often have difficulty pushing droppings out and will get dirty vent feathers so that may be the reason she ended up with flystrike.
When salpingitis is detected early it may respond to antibiotic treatment. Most of the time it's advanced before it's known the bird has it, and treatment is often not successful. I've personally never had one recover from it. Long term prognosis is usually poor. I've had them live as much as 18 months with it before losing them, but many times they pass much quicker than that.
More info on lash eggs and salpingitis here:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

 

[janamacdon]

Thank you. Of course not encouraging news, but this is very helpful.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

That is a lash egg, it's caused by an infection/inflammation of the oviduct, called salpingitis.
Birds with salpingitis can often have difficulty pushing droppings out and will get dirty vent feathers so that may be the reason she ended up with flystrike.
When salpingitis is detected early it may respond to antibiotic treatment. Most of the time it's advanced before it's known the bird has it, and treatment is often not successful. I've personally never had one recover from it. Long term prognosis is usually poor. I've had them live as much as 18 months with it before losing them, but many times they pass much quicker than that.
More info on lash eggs and salpingitis here:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

We have all learned a lot from your poor birds event. I hope she has a chance to improve. Good luck with her. She has had an interesting and amazing case. I think she has fight in her.