Help please!! My hen has a wound with maggots!! What do I do??

[JentheHenChatt]

I noticed my Rhode Island red had some crusty/runny poo stuck to her feathers on her bum. So I looked up different forums on this last night and this morning I took her from the coop and gave her a warm bath. It would seem she has a wound under her vent that had maggots in it. Could be from flies laying eggs on runny poo in feathers. (Fly Strike I have read about as well). I am wondering how I should move forward to heal this wound? Spray antibiotic? Keep it clean and Dry? Isolate from the others? Anything else I can do to help this wound heal? Any other topicals I could use? This pasty white poo that is leaking from her vent...should I get a few order just in case. I fed her some yogurt and oatmeal this morning to help...I feel sort of helpless and not sure how to move forward. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[Mr Beaks]

Sounds like flystrike. You need to start by removing all of the maggots. They could end up in her vent if they aren't already. Also, you should keep her separate from the others to prevent pecking.

Bathe or submerge the affected area to assess and drown as many maggots as possible.

Physically remove all visible maggots in, on and surrounding the wound.

Flush wound with Betadine diluted in water or saline water. Peroxide is OK to use once or twice but can kill live tissue, preventing the area from healing properly.

Dry affected area. If any feathers are in the way or prevent complete drying of the area, simply cut them to dry it thoroughly. A hairdryer set on low heat can be used.

Spray Vetericyn Wound & Infection treatment on affected area. Avoid any ointments.

Repeat above steps two to three times a day until maggots are gone and wound is fully healed.

Also provide vitamins and electrolytes in the drinking water.

This info is a summary from www.the-chicken-chick.com

 

[JentheHenChatt]

UPDATE: Ok, I did exactly as I have been reading and you confirmed these things as well. I let her soak in a warm epsom salt bath for 20 minutes to drown the maggots....a TON of them floating in the water...maybe 30-40 or more....dumped the water once to have fresh water. Tried to splash handfuls of that water into the affected area to flush and clean it out. Then flushed again with saline solution. Afterwards, I picked out about 10 more maggots with tweezers. Dried her really well using some towels and the hair dryer on low and applied the "Blukote" to the wound and surrounding tissue. I separated her and gave her the heat lamp to keep her warm tonight in our laundry room with food and water..which she is eating and drinking well. Electrolytes in water as well. Also gave her some sunflower seeds, as someone else suggested to boost her protein intake. She is on the roost in her isolation kennel and seems to be fine. Planning to do another warm salt water bath tomorrow and fish for more worms and repeat same steps. I was worried to try the peroxide. She still has runny poo. (whitish, milky, thin). What could be causing this? If we get this wound healed, and she still has runny poo, I fear it could happen all over again once she is released back into general population. I fed her some yogurt and oats this morning. Should I give her dewormer as well just in case??
Thank you for your help!

 

[Mr Beaks]

I think the stress of the flystrike would be enough to cause diarrhea but if you think there is an underlying issue you could take a fresh fecal sample to the vet and have them do a fecal float to test for worms, etc. Most vets can do this or can send the sample out for testing. I personally wouldn't worm her until she is healed. Depending on how long the maggots have been there the road to recovery could be a long, hard one as the maggots burrow deep and eat the chicken alive. I've read that Vetericyn will expedite the healing process and it can be found at most farm stores and TSC. I also wanted to let you know that lots of people have gone through this at one time or another. It's really easy to miss under all the feathers and fluff. Good luck!

 

[JentheHenChatt]

Midnight report. Ugh. Today another warm water bath, another 50+ maggots came out and I pick off some of those. The wound seems to be under the skin, tunneling about half the depth of the tweezers in one spot and undermining around the edges. There are so many maggots I cannot seem to get them all. Do they multiply overnight?? Geez. I read about the possibility of doing an ivermectin injection to kill all within 48 hours. Any thoughts on that? Possible?? I need to KILL these things so this wound can start to heal. Went to TSC and got Vetericyn today!! Gonna spray on it 3-4 times per day as directed. BUT can it even start to heal with bugs still in there?? She seems tired...or maybe a little depressed from segregation? I fed her cream of wheat and fresh cranberries this morning to perk her up and she ate a lot of that and some food and water. Her poo is starting to show some normalcy some of the time, it is still quite runny otherwise. It seems like the maggots just quadruple in numbers overnight. I am doing the bath once a day, twice seems a bit much for all parties involved, but having worms eat your skin off seems like a little much too. Any other tips. So grateful for your information so far! Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Mr Beaks advice sounds good.

I'm still new, but have followed several threads so I could learn about different illnesses/injuries etc.
This lady had a bad case of flystrike and she added epsom salts to her bath (this may help to kill the maggot-not sure though). Here is the link to her BYC post:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1019133/help-large-external-ulcer-w-graphic-pic/10

Her hen is healing according to the last post. What she did for treatment is on post#12.

I'm sure if you searched BYC for "flystrike" you may be able to gather more info to try to help your girl.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ladyearth]

Jen DONT GIVE up on her.......... used peroxide sparingly later too cause its supp to be harsh...she is Gods little creature, too
Take fingers or tweezers. I several times used saline spray.. Course had to cut off quite a few feather to get to it all..I prob only epsomed salt soaked three times.. I should have did more soaks... Cause a the first few days she was confined to upstairs bathroom... it took several session. I hate the good for nothing creatures. well they do do some good. But not for My Goldie Girl, then 5 months old........ after several days we hoped we got out all the maggots.. kept her butt clean.... and air dried. sprayed her butt several times a day with clean distilled water using a needless syringes.... she hated that part but I did it anyway
we kept her inside walk out basement days later...more convenient for us and more light and room for her... for over 20 days...
Prob my fault,then Goldie developed impacted crop, cause I gave her prob too long of grass clumps, Hubby gave her whole peanuts... Hubby got her thru that too... She could see out the windows and big patio door......... she slept on top of the chest freezer, her chosen spot. Hubby put together a short temp roost for her.. Put that on a big old cafeteria tray.. kept putty knife and little dust pan closeby for the poo... we confined her to the basement kitchen area with old tiled floor. seperated the rest by a curtain... All in all she was a pretty good patient.... She even laid eggs after a few days. she was going stir crazy. I finally played classical music for her it calmed j her some... I told her shes special Jesus saved her twice.... also tell her She also Daddys Girl she is a big girl anyway a beautiful Barr Rock
so we have to keep that Blue Coat on her bare butt.... so those other gals dont peak her...if I see them doing so I chase them away....we arent sure if the feathers there will ever grow back...
Hubby recoated her butt this morning. she hates it. Plus she prob thinks she will have to go and stay inside again. LOL poor girl
take care all

 

[Mr Beaks]

Remember, it is important to clean/soak/irrigate the maggots out 2-3 times a day. I'm sure that there are eggs and larva inside the wound so the cycle just keeps going until everything is completely removed. Flushing the wound using a needle less syringe or turkey baster can assist in getting them out. As far as the ivermectin injection goes I haven't heard of that. It doesn't mean it's not valid, it just goes beyond my experience. I have heard of ppl using Screw Worm Spray (found at TSC & other farm stores) as it is made specifically for this purpose but I treated my girl using the methods I provided . I can only really share my own experiences and hope that if there is a better way someone else will chime in with their experience. The fact that she's eating and drinking is a good sign. Keep up the good work!

 

[ptrish52]

Midnight report. Ugh. Today another warm water bath, another 50+ maggots came out and I pick off some of those. The wound seems to be under the skin, tunneling about half the depth of the tweezers in one spot and undermining around the edges. There are so many maggots I cannot seem to get them all. Do they multiply overnight?? Geez. I read about the possibility of doing an ivermectin injection to kill all within 48 hours. Any thoughts on that? Possible?? I need to KILL these things so this wound can start to heal. Went to TSC and got Vetericyn today!! Gonna spray on it 3-4 times per day as directed. BUT can it even start to heal with bugs still in there?? She seems tired...or maybe a little depressed from segregation? I fed her cream of wheat and fresh cranberries this morning to perk her up and she ate a lot of that and some food and water. Her poo is starting to show some normalcy some of the time, it is still quite runny otherwise. It seems like the maggots just quadruple in numbers overnight. I am doing the bath once a day, twice seems a bit much for all parties involved, but having worms eat your skin off seems like a little much too. Any other tips. So grateful for your information so far! Thank you!

I know this is a 8 years late. But I had a vet tell me to spray wd 40 on tthe wound. I had the same problem with my barred rock rooster. I thought he was going to die so I gave it a chance. I sprayed up in the hole where the maggots were. The next morning they were gone. He started to heal. He started acting more normal. I am still spraying Vetericyn on his wound but the scab came off and he seems to have healed nicely. Maybe this will help somebody else. The vet was from Justask as we don't have livestock vets around us anymore. None of the other vets will take chickens.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would much rather spray permethrin on the wound or apply SWAT horse gel, which would immediately kill the maggots, than use WD40. But I guess he won’t die from that once. Be sure and make sure that more maggots are not hatching out, as they do for a day or two. Good luck.