Nomimon
In the Brooder
Our silver lace wyandotte hen was found to have a maggot filled hole below her cloaca on a hot day when my son was cooling our hens down in a wading trough on June 17, 2024. There was a sizeable cavelike hole coated in mat black left after all maggots were removed successfully with a modified dental flosser. One hour with a patiently standing hen that was looking ill and likely getting septic. Maggots encouraged to leave by poking with sharp end of flosser. One would wriggle then about 10 would begin to fall out. All friends were scooped or flicked out with the rounded curved end of dental flosser with floss removed. Many maggots packed tightly in the cavity. Last night the scab was finally removed and it appears that the missing abdominal wall has regenerated.
Two of 3 hens had had dirty abdomens from sleeping on the floor of the roost. One had moulted in the cooler weather. The other did not and the weather had turned suddenly very hot. A specific fly laid eggs in the fecal matter in her feathers, they hatched and the maggots proceeded to burrow into her skin.
Our son called us and worked on physically flicking out maggots in the hot sun while we rushed home, washed her with Dawn dish soap and irrigated her body cavity out with saline with amoxicillin. In following days we put her on oral antibiotics, washed her bottom off with chlorhexidine and iodine body wash, rinsed her body cavity large enough to house a cotton ball twice a day with saline and amox water and placed Silverdene gel on the rim of the wound once a day. We never saw any other maggots. We fed her tiny balls of rescue food mixed with Probios probiotic powder once a day between the split antibiotic dose. At day 10 we were able to rub the edges of what appeared to be scab like material off the wound edges. The material was still deep in the cavity and peeking around the edge looked like dark red, shiny intestine. In another week the cavity began to fill in. Yesterday at about 3 weeks we were concerned about the plug that was beginning to protrude out of her abdomen. After washing her whole body thoroughly she was dried off with blow dryer and the scab was softened then removed. Underneath we were pleasantly surprised to find that the wound was filled in with a very firm plug of granulation tissue which looks mostly healthy.
We will continue to wash her wound area with disinfecting cleaners and use a cotton swab to gently remove any dead or infected looking tissue. Once the underlying tissue looks closed we will discontinue oral antibiotics and hope that nothing contaminated was left inside the abdomen.
After intitially beginning oral antibiotics she had perked up and her waning appetite slowly returned. She was initially noted to have a pale face and comb. Possibly getting low blood pressure from getting septic. If it wasn't a very hot day with wading we likely would not have noticed and would have lost her. Oral antibiotics seems critical to survival in this deep wound case. As it was she seems to be a unique case of surviving severe, deep abdominal penetration of fly strike. Not sure of what the maggots secreted but she didn't bleed out nor did she ever act like she was in any severe discomfort. They just kept eating her while alive. She never reacted while gently touching her wound edges and she fell asleep while my daughter held her and I worked to break up the scab which literally fell off week 3. We inspect all of our hens now and quickly address dirty bottoms with a quick washing with dish soap and dryer by the sink.
Two of 3 hens had had dirty abdomens from sleeping on the floor of the roost. One had moulted in the cooler weather. The other did not and the weather had turned suddenly very hot. A specific fly laid eggs in the fecal matter in her feathers, they hatched and the maggots proceeded to burrow into her skin.
Our son called us and worked on physically flicking out maggots in the hot sun while we rushed home, washed her with Dawn dish soap and irrigated her body cavity out with saline with amoxicillin. In following days we put her on oral antibiotics, washed her bottom off with chlorhexidine and iodine body wash, rinsed her body cavity large enough to house a cotton ball twice a day with saline and amox water and placed Silverdene gel on the rim of the wound once a day. We never saw any other maggots. We fed her tiny balls of rescue food mixed with Probios probiotic powder once a day between the split antibiotic dose. At day 10 we were able to rub the edges of what appeared to be scab like material off the wound edges. The material was still deep in the cavity and peeking around the edge looked like dark red, shiny intestine. In another week the cavity began to fill in. Yesterday at about 3 weeks we were concerned about the plug that was beginning to protrude out of her abdomen. After washing her whole body thoroughly she was dried off with blow dryer and the scab was softened then removed. Underneath we were pleasantly surprised to find that the wound was filled in with a very firm plug of granulation tissue which looks mostly healthy.
We will continue to wash her wound area with disinfecting cleaners and use a cotton swab to gently remove any dead or infected looking tissue. Once the underlying tissue looks closed we will discontinue oral antibiotics and hope that nothing contaminated was left inside the abdomen.
After intitially beginning oral antibiotics she had perked up and her waning appetite slowly returned. She was initially noted to have a pale face and comb. Possibly getting low blood pressure from getting septic. If it wasn't a very hot day with wading we likely would not have noticed and would have lost her. Oral antibiotics seems critical to survival in this deep wound case. As it was she seems to be a unique case of surviving severe, deep abdominal penetration of fly strike. Not sure of what the maggots secreted but she didn't bleed out nor did she ever act like she was in any severe discomfort. They just kept eating her while alive. She never reacted while gently touching her wound edges and she fell asleep while my daughter held her and I worked to break up the scab which literally fell off week 3. We inspect all of our hens now and quickly address dirty bottoms with a quick washing with dish soap and dryer by the sink.
Your flock is in good hands. 
