Young Barred Rock Bloody And Poopy Vent Issue - Urgent

[12404914]

Are you giving her daily soaks in the epsom salts?

I've been soaking her daily, but only sometimes with epsom salts. I'll start to do it regularly with them.

 

[12404914]

Today I accidentally slept in. When I woke up I found the hen in an isolated outdoor pen. My sister apparently had moved her. I gave her some ointment and noticed that she had gotten dirt on the tissue, but the swelling had gone down. So I let her stay outside in the pen. She's more active and vocal, and her crop is full so she seems better physically. Being outside seems to have helped her.

However, I noticed some things after soaking her with salts for 15 minutes. First her tissue has a sort of "valley" overlap, which I highlighted with a q-tip in one of the photos below. The worse thing was maggots. When cleaning off some gunk, I noticed a small worm thing. Days ago I noticed one on her tail feathers, but I thought it was a random caterpillar as I could find no sign of infection in her feathers afterwards when checking. But today I noticed one on the tissue, so I got tweezers and removed some yellowish gunk on the bottom side of her tissue and revealed a small pocket with several maggot like worm things inside between the tissue and gunk. I quickly got my dad and started to remove gunk and maggots as quickly as possible, until I realized I was doing more harm than good as due to my shock and the late hour I had poked her in a few spots with mild bleeding. I decided with my dad to spray Vetericin and apply ointment and deal with the problem with a proper mindset in the early morning with a researched approach.

I have no idea how long the worms have been on the tissue. This is the first time I have noticed them on it despite checking her several times a day. She may have gotten them while outside, or maybe she's had them for a while and somehow I didn't notice. How do I get rid of them without hurting her? Obviously getting all the gunk off is an extreme priority. We seem to always get convinced to finish later when near completion, usually due to the stress of the bird, but now I don't think anything is more important. I will also try to convince him to take her to the vet. I'm getting worried I'm not going to be able to help her as much as she needs now. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

After some research, it may be flystrike. If so, the maggots are still very small and no infection has taken hold yet.

Edit: My dad said I can call some vets tomorrow to get estimates, but he won't get into hundreds of dollars for a chicken.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If you soak her in the epsom salts or soapy water, this will help the maggots to come off.
You'll have to pick them off and repeatedly soak them get them all. Re-check again early, because you may find more have hatched.

Flies lay eggs on wounds and exposed tissue and depending on the weather/temperature, maggots can hatch in as little as 24hrs. Hopefully you can get them all.
You are correct, this condition with the maggots is called FlyStrike. The maggots can cause a lot of damage in short period of time, so removing them is the way to go.

I'm very sorry that you are facing all this. I hope you are able to find a reasonable vet to better access her and advise you on how to proceed.

 

[12404914]

If you soak her in the epsom salts or soapy water, this will help the maggots to come off.
You'll have to pick them off and repeatedly soak them get them all. Re-check again early, because you may find more have hatched.

Flies lay eggs on wounds and exposed tissue and depending on the weather/temperature, maggots can hatch in as little as 24hrs. Hopefully you can get them all.
You are correct, this condition with the maggots is called FlyStrike. The maggots can cause a lot of damage in short period of time, so removing them is the way to go.

I'm very sorry that you are facing all this. I hope you are able to find a reasonable vet to better access her and advise you on how to proceed.

Thank you.

 

[NuggetMama]

Following. I need to know how your hen fairs. This has been an interesting and informative read. You're doing amazing by your hen. Some people would have quit on their hen the moment they thought it was too much work but you're doing your best and doing an amazing job at it. Keep it up.

My daughter was reading along too (we were looking up information on runny noses and little sneezes but ran across your post and had to read it) and hopes that she can have as much of a level head as you do when it comes to her chickens.

 

[12404914]

Took her to the vet and unfortunately the tissue was necrotic. There was an option for surgery but in her state it might not have been possible, and it was prone to fail and it was too costly to afford. The veterinarian was really nice and offered humane euthanasia free of charge. I'm sad over the result, but I'm glad I was able to give some help in her final days. I only wish I could have had the same knowledge and experience earlier, I may have been able to fix her before euthanasia was the only humane option. But it's no use dwelling on it.

For some advice for the future, the vet said sugar can be really useful in reducing inflammation. I also should have been more forceful when pushing in tissue, and I think I realized too late that it needed to invert.

Thanks to everybody who helped. I really do appreciate it. While I didn't manage to save the hen, I did extend her life for a while and at least some of that time was pleasant for her. I'm actually looking towards a major in zoology for a veterinary career, so as sad is this was the experience should do me a bit of good.

I'm at least glad the hen's death was peaceful, rather than due to bullying or infection. Her name was Jerry if anyone was curious.

 

[NuggetMama]

Took her to the vet and unfortunately the tissue was necrotic. There was an option for surgery but in her state it might not have been possible, and it was prone to fail and it was too costly to afford. The veterinarian was really nice and offered humane euthanasia free of charge. I'm sad over the result, but I'm glad I was able to give some help in her final days. I only wish I could have had the same knowledge and experience earlier, I may have been able to fix her before euthanasia was the only humane option. But it's no use dwelling on it.

For some advice for the future, the vet said sugar can be really useful in reducing inflammation. I also should have been more forceful when pushing in tissue, and I think I realized too late that it needed to invert.

Thanks to everybody who helped. I really do appreciate it. While I didn't manage to save the hen, I did extend her life for a while and at least some of that time was pleasant for her. I'm actually looking towards a major in zoology for a veterinary career, so as sad is this was the experience should do me a bit of good.

I'm at least glad the hen's death was peaceful, rather than due to bullying or infection. Her name was Jerry if anyone was curious.

I am so sorry for your loss. You did great when listening to the people around you on how to save your hen. You found a great vet who was able to inform you of all your options and you took the right one for your sweet girl.

I wanted to be a vet too (i couldn’t get past the math) so I hope you make it as a vet! We need more people like you out there wanting to fight for our babies.

Jerry went over the rainbow bridge to fields of grains and grass to be with others and to wait until you are old and grey to join her and the others in fields that are always comfortable.

Good luck with all your ongoing endeavors! Keep us updated on how life is for you! You can message any time you wanna update privately on how school is going for you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Took her to the vet and unfortunately the tissue was necrotic. There was an option for surgery but in her state it might not have been possible, and it was prone to fail and it was too costly to afford. The veterinarian was really nice and offered humane euthanasia free of charge. I'm sad over the result, but I'm glad I was able to give some help in her final days. I only wish I could have had the same knowledge and experience earlier, I may have been able to fix her before euthanasia was the only humane option. But it's no use dwelling on it.

For some advice for the future, the vet said sugar can be really useful in reducing inflammation. I also should have been more forceful when pushing in tissue, and I think I realized too late that it needed to invert.

Thanks to everybody who helped. I really do appreciate it. While I didn't manage to save the hen, I did extend her life for a while and at least some of that time was pleasant for her. I'm actually looking towards a major in zoology for a veterinary career, so as sad is this was the experience should do me a bit of good.

I'm at least glad the hen's death was peaceful, rather than due to bullying or infection. Her name was Jerry if anyone was curious.

I'm saddened to hear about Jerry

You hung in there with her and did a very good job taking care of her. It's hard to lose one when you've spent time treating them. Sadly, when things like this happen, this is when we do gain the knowledge and experience for next time or to try to help others.

Thank you for letting us know.