maggots on chicken's hind end?

[ShamiquaCoMo]

Thanks MrsB! We bathed her again in permethrin the following evening for good measure (and dunked the other ladies too - though there were no signs of any issues with them). I was concerned that the maggots could have found their way into her egg vent but as we're now 72 hours out from the attack and I haven't seen any signs, I feel hopeful that we're past the worst. She had bad diarrhea yesterday morning but that seemed to have abated by last night. She was also starting to get feisty again by last night, gobbled down her food and started to peck at me when I tried to spray her hind (prior to last night she was very docile and let me spray her without putting up a fight). I'm going to keep her indoors for another 48 hours though I can tell she's starting to feel very cooped up. The one thing that concerns me is that she has a black patch of skin below her egg vent that looks necrotic. Not sure if it's just dead skin that will eventually drop off or if it's something I should be concerned about?

I picked up an antiseptic spray usable on all animals from the farm store, so I'm spraying that on to keep any infection away.

I spoke to my dog's vet last night to see if he could shed any light on it and the one thing he said, that made me feel better, is how quickly an attack like this can occur. I'm sure like many others dealing with fly strike, I felt guilty that I had somehow let her down, but a fly strike can reach infestation in less than 24 hours.

Easily the most disgusting thing I've ever had to deal with!!

 

[lmelton648]

Unfortunately I found the maggots far too late to save my girl, she died last night. I noticed she was not as active last evening, I found her away from the other girls near a tree. I looked her over and noticed her hind part was red and raw. I put my hand over it to see what was happening and it came back bloody. I immediately put her into a warm bath and dried her. But did not know to pick off all of the worms! I kept her inside my laundry room, unfortunately she died sometime in the night.

She also had a foul smelling liquid coming out of her beak when I held her. Does anyone know what that was? I took the worms by the vet this morning to make sure it was not another type of worm, the vet said it was a maggot.

 

[ShamiquaCoMo]

Ugh, I feel so bad for you. This just happened to me last month. It's a gruesome thing to deal with. The answer for me was a bath of diluted permethrin, a pack of nitrile gloves and two amazing friends who helped me pick all the maggots off and keep her in the bath. Permethrin immediately started killing the maggots (it's non toxic to birds but highly toxic to cats - and maggots!). We dunked her again the next night for good measure and I kept some diluted permethrin on hand to spray her butt. After 4 days in solitary on high-protein food, she recovered and went back to being the boss chicken. She lost some of her tail feathers and definitely has a scar where the maggots were eating into her. Luckily I think we found it in time before they made it into her egg vent. We had no eggs for two weeks, but then she started to lay again. It all happened so quickly though. A flystrike can develop in 12-24 hours so catching it in time is often a matter of luck. I'm so sorry you lost your little lady!! I now have a huge vat of liquid permethrin on hand so I'm ready to go next time.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Unfortunately I found the maggots far too late to save my girl, she died last night. I noticed she was not as active last evening, I found her away from the other girls near a tree. I looked her over and noticed her hind part was red and raw. I put my hand over it to see what was happening and it came back bloody. I immediately put her into a warm bath and dried her. But did not know to pick off all of the worms! I kept her inside my laundry room, unfortunately she died sometime in the night.

She also had a foul smelling liquid coming out of her beak when I held her. Does anyone know what that was? I took the worms by the vet this morning to make sure it was not another type of worm, the vet said it was a maggot.

Welcome to BYC... Sorry your first post had to be about this. Very sorry to hear of your loss.

The foul liquid could be a result of an impacted or sour crop.

Fly strike is a very serious condition that can lead to nasty infections if not treated. At least you know what to look for and do in the future if it ever comes up again.

MrsB

 

[nancy lee]

I posted on the "flystrike" problem about 2 months ago. I had no idea what it was. I am a fairly new chicken owner. My affected chicken had been the biggest and bossiest in my 4 member flock. I first noticed her comb seemed to have deflated and was laying down like a combover on her head...and pink instead of red. By the time I figured out something was wrong, her bottom area, the size of a large, half -a -grapefruit, was a soggy, brown, mess alive with all ages of maggots transversing the area and up underneath her legs...and a concentrated large, hole of an area, filled with big, white maggots. It actually turned my stomach to see it. When I did not know what the problem was, my first instinct was to hose her off, which made me see that her tissue was in strings and layers of decay, grey in color. She had been a solid, hefty chick however, when I was inspecting her I realized she was as light as a feather and her breasts had sunken in, leaving her breast bone sticking out about an inch. I thought she would die within the day.
I fortunately ran across "Backyard Chickens" where I received such wonderful help and advice. I bought chlorhexidene, fish tank tubing (since I could not acquire a crop tube), a 60 ml syringe, "Exact" powdered, baby bird food and gloves. I began a regiment of iodine-free salt water baths, chlorhexadine application and tube feedings. I would soak her for about 15 minutes...she just sat there without a struggle, each time (which surprised me so much because, I had never handled my chickens before). I think she liked the warm baths. I then laid her in my lap--on her back-- wrapped in a towel and picked as many maggots as possible off of her with tweezers and by hand. I then liberally applied the chlorhexadine all over the affected area. Then, I would put her in a cage to keep the other chickens from pecking at her maggots. She could not walk so she simply lay on her side and every time she pooped I changed the newspaper and rinsed her tail end off. at first I fed her all the things she liked..she would not eat the boiled egg whites but loved oatmeal in which I put the powdered baby bird food and chia seeds....I gave her anything she would eat . She didn't eat a lot. She liked corn on the cobb the best.
It was then that Mrs B (thank you!!!!) told me I would have to tube feed her if she would be able to survive. I was nervous at first but, it turns out, it is very easy to do. And, my chicken didn't seem to mind that either..At first, because she was so weak. I tube fed her 25 ml twice a day the first day, same the 2nd day......then, I thought I was torturing her and causing undue suffering since she couldn't walk,was emaciated, wouldn't eat much and just looked so bad. I thought she had had a stroke since she would only move one wing and one leg. I decided to let her die and stopped feeding her mid day. I thought she would die within hours.
She survived all that day (temperature 100') and all that night . By morning, I felt SO bad that she was still alive that, I decided she could survive! So, I immediately started tube feeding her every 3 hours for the next 2 days. I finally did not see any more maggots of any age on her so, I rinsed the chlorhexidene off and did not reapply. After 5 days of tube feeding and baths etc she finally stood up again. After 10 days, instead of going to her cage on the porch to roost, she instinctively returned to her place in the coop with the rest of the flock. I kept an eye on her because she still wasn't eating a lot and couldn't walk very far.... every couple of days I tube fed her to get her through the 100 degree weather. He comb would start to get black streaks so, I would tube feed her and it would get a better color.
It has been a month since doing anything extra for her and she is back to herself as my alpha chicken. She is still a little light but she is fine now running for bugs and for the heck of it. The large, half a grape fruit area on her hind end became dry and leathery, void of feathers. After 2 months It has been 90 % replaced by normal skin with feathers as well.....I didn't think it would ever look normal but, I am learning about how resilient chickens are!
It took a LOT of time to do all her treatments and to keep her clean for the first 2 weeks. I actually don't know how she made it through such a disease. I am glad my chicken is still with us but, I can also understand if a chicken in her condition would be culled.
I could't do it and my husband wouldn't do it ...so, we began that healing regiment and this time it worked!! And now I know that a little poop on the hind end is not just an eyesore...it can be life or death to a chicken.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Thank you for sharing, Nancy Lee.

This makes it all worth it!!

MrsB

 

[Wyandotter]

I wanted to share my tragedy on this post so that others can, hopefully, learn from my loss. My beautiful and very sweet Wyandotte Sparky passed away today after a very brief and terrible case of what was, apparently, fly strike (though there may have been other unknown factors). I didn't notice that anything was wrong until yesterday evening, when I saw that Sparky's backside was all wet and she had a protrusion that was red and appeared bloody (looked like something was either hanging out of her, about the size of a ping pong ball, or right below her cloaca). I freaked and started calling vets (of course, it was after hours) to see if the ER treated chickens- they didn't, but referred me to another couple places. One was closed and gave no other options for help- the other had a 24hr. hotline, which wanted to have a vet come in to see my hen for an office visit of $150, not including any treatment, and wouldn't give any advice over the phone. So, obviously, I jumped on this site and started searching for answers. I looked up "swollen, red butt" initially, because I couldn't see any other factors involved, and found a few different ailments that it could've been- from perontitis to egg-binding to genetic tumors. I soaked her in warm water for a few seconds to see if I could see any other wounds or clues, which she tolerated very well (she was fairly lethargic- obvious when she didn't go for the beets I put out for her and her flock mate), then I brought her inside, put her in a large crate lined with newspaper and kept researching for answers. It was around bedtime for her, so I didn't offer any food or water, just tried to keep her environment quite and calm. I should note that there was a terrible, putrid smell coming from her, like a bad infection or rotting flesh. I literally had cotton balls dipped in tea tree oil in my nose to keep from being nauseous, it was that bad. And after being inside for about an hour or so, she laid an egg- another indicator to me that she may've been egg-bound, and I started to feel better about her situation. The next morning, I got her out of the crate and changed the paper, after making her some mash and some water with hen vitamins in it- she got out and walked around a bit on the deck. But then I noticed the maggots, lining the bottom of the crate! There were hundreds of them and her paper was soaked on top from watery poop & discharge. It was horrible! After telling my husband, he looked up those signs online and started the peroxide/water wash on her butt. She was isolated from her flock mate outside in her little henhouse with the pan of vitamin water and mash and seemed to be ok, though weak and, obviously not herself. I had planned on doing the peroxide wash again after I got home from work (and worried about her all day, after not sleeping much all night- she was my baby!) only to find that she had died at some point within the last 6 hrs. or so She was laying with her head in her water pan, which was almost dry, and her intestines were hanging out! I don't know if this is "normal" for a, probably, severe case of fly strike, or if there was an underlying or predominant factor in conjunction, but I am heartbroken. She was an absolute lover and went into her "submissive" stance every time I came into the enclosure, so that I would pet her and rub behind her wings. I wanted to share my story and, hopefully, shed some awareness on the necessity of keeping the hens and their environment clean (I put diatomaceous earth on EVERTHING this evening, including in all the standing water and their nests), since I had never heard of fly strikes on hens before. My husband said they had the issue with sheep when he was growing up. But the entrails coming out- has anyone had that happen, too?? Thanks for reading and healthy flock to everyone.

Healthier days- my sweet Sparky on right.

 

[MrsBrooke]

I am so sorry for your loss.

It's totally possible that her fly-strike got infected. I didn't read anything about maggots... Were you able to get them off of her?

It's also possible that she had something on her hind end that the other chickens pecked at. If she was overweight at all, she could have had fatty liver disease. And, as I'm sure you read, ascites/fluid in the abdomen is caused by a whole host of things.

If she had a deep, open wound from the pecking or fly-strike, I suppose it could have split her skin open, especially if she had pressure from fluids. Were her intestines coming from her cloaca or ripped skin? Did you happen to take any photos?

Again, I hate that you had to experience this. Sparky is a beautiful girl, and it always seems like the best ones get taken too soon.

MrsB

 

[csevenup]

Wish I would have seen this sooner we use lost a chicken with this. We will be checking the rest of the chickens tonight and make sure that they don't have it

 

[casportpony]

Wish I would have seen this sooner we use lost a chicken with this. We will be checking the rest of the chickens tonight and make sure that they don't have it

Welcome to BYC!

Sorry for your loss.

-Kathy