Okay got back from the vet. Ms. Thomson, thank you for the referral. Dr. Slobodan was great. The dr.took out about 3/4 of a liter of a clear fluid. An xray showed a foreign object. We're thinking she ate a bolt or washer and is suffering from metal poisoning. We're feeding her almond butter and some metamucil to help her pass it.
Thank you everyone for your help!
That sounds very likely! We've found screws and other amazing things in the gullets of our turkeys and chickens that we've butchered. I hope she can pass it quickly!
The saline sitz bath sounds like a great idea. In aquaculture, fish parasites are more sensitive to salt than fish, so salt water is used to effectively dehydrate the parasites. I'm guessing this may be the same with the maggots. It's something like sprinkling salt on a slug. :) Salt also acts as a antibacterial as well. But Chrystine may be right about over-soaking.
She may well have a residual infection related to the maggot invasion. It can take a week or two for a bird to recover from something like that. I'd continue with the ACV and add yogurt or dairy kefir to her diet to help with her digestive system. Since you've lubed her vent, I assume you've also tried to feel to see if anything is stuck? A chicken's ovary is on her backside, not her belly. The vent canal splits and the higher path goes to the ovary while the lower path leads to her intestines. If her belly is hard, it's probably digestive.
As for the flies, there are many kinds of flies and they respond to different things. House flies, face flies, stall flies, etc. We have used the predator wasps to control flies, but they mostly only work on houseflies and horseflies. We also suspect they were getting rid of our black soldier flies, which we wanted to produce. :) So now we just rely on an intensive manure regimen. We have cattle, so all our manure (cow, poultry) is gathered in the morning into a pile which the chickens themselves work throughout the day. That allows it to dry out quickly. Flies do not like disturbed or dry manure. The next morning I rake it all up and add the new manure to the pile, and the chickens start all over again! This keeps flies from breeding on our property. We also use fly traps - a lot of them! Unfortunately I can't control other people, so the flies still come to our cattle, but our birds are hardly bothered by them.
As with any pest, they will come when they find food, water and a way to reproduce. Take those things away, and the pest will go away. Good luck with your girl, and please keep us posted on how she does and any other observations!
Joanna Benton > Sheri SchmeckpeperJuly 23, 2014 at 2:53pm
Thank you Sheri. We couldn't feel anything in her vent. You have given me a bit of hope. Everything I've read about internal laying and severe egg binding has been a bit negative, so hopefully it is something that can be easily taken care of with medication. I am taking her to the vet this evening and will post the prognosis.
Thank you Chrystine but I think it is egg binding. She walks like a penguin, has a very full stomach and sits around instead of foraging in the yard. I'm taking her to the vet on Wednesday. Poor Miss Hilda.
Hilda is hanging in there. We are now speculating internal laying or a prolapse oviduct. The swelling under her vent is still prevalent. We thought it was egg binding but we've soaked her in a warm bath everyday and applied a bit of ky jelly in her cloaca. Her belly is pretty firm. Her feces is yellowish green and kind of just drips out. We gave her an injection of penicillin g. She's eating and drinking. Not sure what to do next, perhaps apply some prep h to her vent.
Hilda watch day 3: still no maggots and the swelling has significantly reduced. She still walks and then sits but her wound is still pretty bad. I still don't know how she got her severe cut but my husband and I are speculating she was severely earthbound to the point her swollen hind quarters tore and then the flies came. I've started putting a couple tablespoons of acv in their water. Should I also worm them? I already use de in their coop and will start spraying their roost area with bleach water. What's the bleach water ratio? I haven't given her any antibiotics and have removed her from solitary confinement because she looked sad, the other chickens don't bother her anyway. Should I still look into getting a maggot killer spray? Should I also get her some antibiotics?
I'm super excited there are no more maggots. The strange thing is we had just moved the coop a week ago to the current location. Thank you for the acv and bleach water tip. I had heard something about coconut oil as an effective antibiotic. Any thoughts on the coconut oil?
Day two: checked hilda for maggots and no maggots. She walks around a bit but then sits and rests and her backside seems to "pump". We washed her wound out with peroxide and then washed it out with iodine/water solution then added neosporin. We didn't isolate her last night but decided to do so until her wound heals. Put her in a mesh puppy pen with wood chips to hopefully keep flies out. She hopped up to her high roost bar which had to hurt so hopefully her limited movement will assist with the healing process. Below her vent is still extremely swollen. No idea what to do next. Thanks for all your help so far.
Replies
Thank you Chrystine for all of your help and your suggestions. It was so comforting to see your posts.
Thank you everyone for your help!
That sounds very likely! We've found screws and other amazing things in the gullets of our turkeys and chickens that we've butchered. I hope she can pass it quickly!
The saline sitz bath sounds like a great idea. In aquaculture, fish parasites are more sensitive to salt than fish, so salt water is used to effectively dehydrate the parasites. I'm guessing this may be the same with the maggots. It's something like sprinkling salt on a slug. :) Salt also acts as a antibacterial as well. But Chrystine may be right about over-soaking.
She may well have a residual infection related to the maggot invasion. It can take a week or two for a bird to recover from something like that. I'd continue with the ACV and add yogurt or dairy kefir to her diet to help with her digestive system. Since you've lubed her vent, I assume you've also tried to feel to see if anything is stuck? A chicken's ovary is on her backside, not her belly. The vent canal splits and the higher path goes to the ovary while the lower path leads to her intestines. If her belly is hard, it's probably digestive.
As for the flies, there are many kinds of flies and they respond to different things. House flies, face flies, stall flies, etc. We have used the predator wasps to control flies, but they mostly only work on houseflies and horseflies. We also suspect they were getting rid of our black soldier flies, which we wanted to produce. :) So now we just rely on an intensive manure regimen. We have cattle, so all our manure (cow, poultry) is gathered in the morning into a pile which the chickens themselves work throughout the day. That allows it to dry out quickly. Flies do not like disturbed or dry manure. The next morning I rake it all up and add the new manure to the pile, and the chickens start all over again! This keeps flies from breeding on our property. We also use fly traps - a lot of them! Unfortunately I can't control other people, so the flies still come to our cattle, but our birds are hardly bothered by them.
As with any pest, they will come when they find food, water and a way to reproduce. Take those things away, and the pest will go away. Good luck with your girl, and please keep us posted on how she does and any other observations!
Thank you Sheri. We couldn't feel anything in her vent. You have given me a bit of hope. Everything I've read about internal laying and severe egg binding has been a bit negative, so hopefully it is something that can be easily taken care of with medication. I am taking her to the vet this evening and will post the prognosis.
Thank you Chrystine but I think it is egg binding. She walks like a penguin, has a very full stomach and sits around instead of foraging in the yard. I'm taking her to the vet on Wednesday. Poor Miss Hilda.
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