Treating a sick hen (Warning description of fly-strike)
I just found a chicken which had gotten all maggotty around it's back end,
NOT anywhere near the cloaca actually, simply the meat of it's "rump"(?)
eaten away. Obviously must have had some trauma there originally (pecked at,
caught on piece of wire ?) that subsequently got flyblown
I tried rinsing them out in my bathtub from a gentle trickle of coldwater
from the handshower attachment then decided on another track and took it
outside and sprayed it with the normal Pyrethrim mist I make up, a Vet
available mammal and bird safe spray or dipping drench (added later...I'm
glad it's mammal-safe too, as sometimes I end up gettin' near as much on me
as on the chooks ! )
I left the chook to stand...it's sorta half conscious, on the concrete path
for a few minutes then counted over 30 maggots, mostly small or tiny, drop
off onto the surrounding ground
The trigger sprayer I had only mixed up 125 ml of medicine spray anyway so
obviously the last little bit doesn't spray out well, especially if you're
holding the spray-bottle at an angle
So I up-ended the chicken and had a close look, I could see many maggots
still affecting the hen, many were almost inside "tunnels" within the flesh,
so I took off the spray-top and trickled out the last wee bit of liquid in
the spray bottle. directly over the affected area
Just like the fella on Dad's Army tv show used to say "they don't like it up
'em !". Re-standing the hen on another piece of path I counted another 30
maggots drop off over the next few mins
I got the hen to sip up some sugar-water on a teaspoon, and then took it
inside the (flyscreened) laundry-bathroom area and stood it up in a large
plastic bowl (I don't think it's energetic to step out
That was just on dark anyway and it seems to be sleeping standing up on one
foot, I guess the other hip is sore (the damage is off-centre)
I snuck in with a torch earlier and without disturbing it observed around
it's backside and could see what might be another 5 maggots possibly still
alive, hopefully dying from exposure to the pyrethrum spray, in the bowl
bottom I can see the dying remains of 10 plus maggots
In past years, I have on occasion restored to health, birds at least as
badly affected in the past so we'll just have to see how this one goes.. Oh
I noticed also that it's blind in one eye. I don't know the problem as the
eyelid seems permanently closed. Maybe it's a skincancer of the eyelid and
is permanent, and maybe Sometimes a minor infection causes hens to become
temporarily blind on one side, perhaps a grass-seed gets stuck in a corner
of their eye, but then in a few days things sort themselves out and they see
perfectly again. I do not know whether it's eyesight will restore on that
side in future. Maybe I should call this hen "Lucky" ! In my domestic
situation, where unlimited feed and water is easily available in their shed,
and they only need leave if they choose to roam about outside, I'm sure a
chicken can survive quite happily with sight in only one eye anyway.
If it lasts the night and then starts drinking water regularly, it should be
ok. I noticed when I first picked it up it is **SO** underweight compared to
normal so maybe it hasn't been eating for quite some days
If it doesn't last the night, I guess I've done me dough on another $3
chicken !
UPDATE added July 2007. Sorry I thought I'd given a progress report but apparently it didn't go through. Well after one week in my bathroom-laundry the hen had improved enough (eating and drinking fine, able to stand sit and walk around ok, the skin dried and healed enough NOT to get instantly flyblown again) and I re-introduced it back into the flock. I kept an eye on it for several weeks, picking it up every couple of days and checking around its rump. Feathers quickly re-grew around covering up the damaged skin area. Indeed I only stopped keeping an eye on it as it soon became indistuinguishable from the other hens ! Therefore another full recovery on my record.
Cheerio
Dr Catherine Jemma
.....(Doctor of Bathroom Veterinary Sciences ! )
this email brought to you by Rubbish-Dump computer-power !
NOT anywhere near the cloaca actually, simply the meat of it's "rump"(?)
eaten away. Obviously must have had some trauma there originally (pecked at,
caught on piece of wire ?) that subsequently got flyblown
I tried rinsing them out in my bathtub from a gentle trickle of coldwater
from the handshower attachment then decided on another track and took it
outside and sprayed it with the normal Pyrethrim mist I make up, a Vet
available mammal and bird safe spray or dipping drench (added later...I'm
glad it's mammal-safe too, as sometimes I end up gettin' near as much on me
as on the chooks ! )
I left the chook to stand...it's sorta half conscious, on the concrete path
for a few minutes then counted over 30 maggots, mostly small or tiny, drop
off onto the surrounding ground
The trigger sprayer I had only mixed up 125 ml of medicine spray anyway so
obviously the last little bit doesn't spray out well, especially if you're
holding the spray-bottle at an angle
So I up-ended the chicken and had a close look, I could see many maggots
still affecting the hen, many were almost inside "tunnels" within the flesh,
so I took off the spray-top and trickled out the last wee bit of liquid in
the spray bottle. directly over the affected area
Just like the fella on Dad's Army tv show used to say "they don't like it up
'em !". Re-standing the hen on another piece of path I counted another 30
maggots drop off over the next few mins
I got the hen to sip up some sugar-water on a teaspoon, and then took it
inside the (flyscreened) laundry-bathroom area and stood it up in a large
plastic bowl (I don't think it's energetic to step out
That was just on dark anyway and it seems to be sleeping standing up on one
foot, I guess the other hip is sore (the damage is off-centre)
I snuck in with a torch earlier and without disturbing it observed around
it's backside and could see what might be another 5 maggots possibly still
alive, hopefully dying from exposure to the pyrethrum spray, in the bowl
bottom I can see the dying remains of 10 plus maggots
In past years, I have on occasion restored to health, birds at least as
badly affected in the past so we'll just have to see how this one goes.. Oh
I noticed also that it's blind in one eye. I don't know the problem as the
eyelid seems permanently closed. Maybe it's a skincancer of the eyelid and
is permanent, and maybe Sometimes a minor infection causes hens to become
temporarily blind on one side, perhaps a grass-seed gets stuck in a corner
of their eye, but then in a few days things sort themselves out and they see
perfectly again. I do not know whether it's eyesight will restore on that
side in future. Maybe I should call this hen "Lucky" ! In my domestic
situation, where unlimited feed and water is easily available in their shed,
and they only need leave if they choose to roam about outside, I'm sure a
chicken can survive quite happily with sight in only one eye anyway.
If it lasts the night and then starts drinking water regularly, it should be
ok. I noticed when I first picked it up it is **SO** underweight compared to
normal so maybe it hasn't been eating for quite some days
If it doesn't last the night, I guess I've done me dough on another $3
chicken !
UPDATE added July 2007. Sorry I thought I'd given a progress report but apparently it didn't go through. Well after one week in my bathroom-laundry the hen had improved enough (eating and drinking fine, able to stand sit and walk around ok, the skin dried and healed enough NOT to get instantly flyblown again) and I re-introduced it back into the flock. I kept an eye on it for several weeks, picking it up every couple of days and checking around its rump. Feathers quickly re-grew around covering up the damaged skin area. Indeed I only stopped keeping an eye on it as it soon became indistuinguishable from the other hens ! Therefore another full recovery on my record.
Cheerio
Dr Catherine Jemma
.....(Doctor of Bathroom Veterinary Sciences ! )
this email brought to you by Rubbish-Dump computer-power !
posted by Catherine Jemma at 10:59 pm
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