- Jan 6, 2011
- 802
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Backstory...
So, last spring we decided to put our house up for sale and possibly move to California. In the meantime, one of our renters moved out of a condo down the street. Lightbulb went off....let's move into our condo and leave our beautiful house as a pristine museum for potential buyers as it is such a nice house it's surely to sell in a matter of weeks, right?! WRONG!
We decided to leave the chickens and coop at the 'for sale' house and run back and forth. Two months in and I was over it. Begged my husband to let me get rid of the ladies as I knew a wonderful home that would take them in and our next house wil likely have a HOA. My sister took a couple, but my husband said, "no way!" From there the baton was passed and the chickens became his responsibility throughout the summer. He did a great job feeding, watering, and even cleaned out the coop more than I did! Amazing! Who is this guy??!!
One thing I did tell him was he needed to keep Buffy's butt clean. Our nearly 3 year old Buff Orphington gets dingleberries and I bathe her once a month or so. Well, that job didn't sound too appealing, so he didn't do it. I'm not blaming him, it's no fun and I feel equally guilty for not checking on the girls more and making sure they were healthy. I knew about fly strike, I just had never seen it before. Well, due to our laziness, he discovered her nearly dead one morning. When he flipped her over, a horror was discovered near her vent. Hundreds of maggots eating her alive! Flesh hanging off her side. A red, angry wound about 4-5 inches in diameter eaten down to the, well, chicken! Poor poor Buff.
I hate to admit it, but I voted for the ax, or at the very least, euthanization at the vet. Nope. With our 8 year old crying over his favorite Buffy Britches, my husband scooped her up, hand picked all 150 maggots off her WITH MY EYEBROW TWEEZERS! He then bathed her and brought her back to the condo. Great.
The next morning he took her to the Emergency Animal Hospital and spent $175 to have them clean and disinfect her wound, give her anitbiotics, and many meds to take home. Yep, that's right folks. We just spent nearly $200 on a $2 chicken. Worse, we now have a condo chicken sitting in a box under a hear light. OK, we all love Buffy. She was our first chicken and our 8 year olds favorite lady. She is also the big bossy britches of the chicken yard. She's ruled the roost since day one. What will the others do without their leader?
When we discovered this condition, we also discovered that there is not much information on the internet about fly strike. There is the same discussion pasted and clipped on most websites with little to no pictures. That's where I come in. I was too horrified to think straight at the beginning and missed taking a picture with the maggots and infections, but I've started snapping a picture a week so we can see what happens. Will this heal? Will she die?
For now, she resides in a cardboard box in our condo under a 50watt reptile bulb. The box is long, so she can choose to be under the light or not. My husband gives her a pill hidden in a pea every morning and puts antibiotic salve on the wound once a day *gag* When (if) the wound heals enough, I'll take her back and put her in the broody coop by herself. It's in the same run as the others, so they can see each other, but they can't peck on her wound until the feathers grow back.
Now that you're caught up, here are the gross pictures, which I'll update every week or two. Maybe this can be prevented in another pet!
Buffy in healthier times....
Buffy in her condo box under the heat. I fed her some scrambled egg at first, because she wasn't up to eating much. This was week one. Now she stands most of the time and wants out for walks.
Fly strike rears it's ugly head, er...This is about a week in. That is her vent at the top left of the wound. She's stopped laying eggs completely. Can you blame her? The maggots were all up her side as well, under the skin.
Nearly two weeks now. How is that going to close? I guess we'll see what happens. It no longer seems to bother her and she goes from sitting to standing quickly and walks around just fine..
Stay tuned....
So, last spring we decided to put our house up for sale and possibly move to California. In the meantime, one of our renters moved out of a condo down the street. Lightbulb went off....let's move into our condo and leave our beautiful house as a pristine museum for potential buyers as it is such a nice house it's surely to sell in a matter of weeks, right?! WRONG!
We decided to leave the chickens and coop at the 'for sale' house and run back and forth. Two months in and I was over it. Begged my husband to let me get rid of the ladies as I knew a wonderful home that would take them in and our next house wil likely have a HOA. My sister took a couple, but my husband said, "no way!" From there the baton was passed and the chickens became his responsibility throughout the summer. He did a great job feeding, watering, and even cleaned out the coop more than I did! Amazing! Who is this guy??!!
One thing I did tell him was he needed to keep Buffy's butt clean. Our nearly 3 year old Buff Orphington gets dingleberries and I bathe her once a month or so. Well, that job didn't sound too appealing, so he didn't do it. I'm not blaming him, it's no fun and I feel equally guilty for not checking on the girls more and making sure they were healthy. I knew about fly strike, I just had never seen it before. Well, due to our laziness, he discovered her nearly dead one morning. When he flipped her over, a horror was discovered near her vent. Hundreds of maggots eating her alive! Flesh hanging off her side. A red, angry wound about 4-5 inches in diameter eaten down to the, well, chicken! Poor poor Buff.
I hate to admit it, but I voted for the ax, or at the very least, euthanization at the vet. Nope. With our 8 year old crying over his favorite Buffy Britches, my husband scooped her up, hand picked all 150 maggots off her WITH MY EYEBROW TWEEZERS! He then bathed her and brought her back to the condo. Great.
The next morning he took her to the Emergency Animal Hospital and spent $175 to have them clean and disinfect her wound, give her anitbiotics, and many meds to take home. Yep, that's right folks. We just spent nearly $200 on a $2 chicken. Worse, we now have a condo chicken sitting in a box under a hear light. OK, we all love Buffy. She was our first chicken and our 8 year olds favorite lady. She is also the big bossy britches of the chicken yard. She's ruled the roost since day one. What will the others do without their leader?
When we discovered this condition, we also discovered that there is not much information on the internet about fly strike. There is the same discussion pasted and clipped on most websites with little to no pictures. That's where I come in. I was too horrified to think straight at the beginning and missed taking a picture with the maggots and infections, but I've started snapping a picture a week so we can see what happens. Will this heal? Will she die?
For now, she resides in a cardboard box in our condo under a 50watt reptile bulb. The box is long, so she can choose to be under the light or not. My husband gives her a pill hidden in a pea every morning and puts antibiotic salve on the wound once a day *gag* When (if) the wound heals enough, I'll take her back and put her in the broody coop by herself. It's in the same run as the others, so they can see each other, but they can't peck on her wound until the feathers grow back.
Now that you're caught up, here are the gross pictures, which I'll update every week or two. Maybe this can be prevented in another pet!
Buffy in healthier times....
Buffy in her condo box under the heat. I fed her some scrambled egg at first, because she wasn't up to eating much. This was week one. Now she stands most of the time and wants out for walks.
Fly strike rears it's ugly head, er...This is about a week in. That is her vent at the top left of the wound. She's stopped laying eggs completely. Can you blame her? The maggots were all up her side as well, under the skin.
Nearly two weeks now. How is that going to close? I guess we'll see what happens. It no longer seems to bother her and she goes from sitting to standing quickly and walks around just fine..
Stay tuned....
