# HELP My chicken has maggots!!!



## Dogstar (25 May 2010)

Just panicked and totally sprayed her with tetracycline! Will it kill the maggots?? Cant recall the stuff that made the maggots pour off the sheep....thanks


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## Brandy (25 May 2010)

Really this is not good - where are the maggots? As in fly strike?


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## Echo Bravo (25 May 2010)

Not good at all. If they are near her vent, take to vet and have PTS.


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## Ella19 (25 May 2010)

I work as a trainee vet nurse. You need to get her to a vet tonight if you haven't already! This is known as fly strike and will kill her if you do not deal with it tonight, the maggots will eat her from the inside out. The vets will assess how bad it is, this usually involves clipping or in her case plucking the area, they will then either suggest euthanasia which is much nicer than being eaten alive i'm afraid, or they will be able to remove them with tweezers, and properly clean the area.


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## Dogstar (26 May 2010)

Chicken update for the kind people who posted advice. I went out right after I posted, came back about 11.30pm to find tetracycline hadn't killed the maggots and the posts saying I should take her to the vet. Oooh dear. Anyway, I surfed frantically for anything that could kill maggots without killing the chicken (and that I had in the house). Hairspray! So I went out and covered my chicken with Harmony haispray and thought that I would take her the the vet in the morning if she was still alive. Well, this morning had a look and the chuck is loads perkier and the maggots (literally thousands of little ones) were pretty much all dead! So I cut off her feathers with scissors and washed the area with soapy water and a toothbrush- looks quite clean and OK now! So I will spray again with tetracycline for the wounds which arent too bad and I 'think' she might be OK?!


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## Saucisson (26 May 2010)

I hope she's ok, I've been following the chicken story and didn't hold out much hope after the posts yesterday.

I absolutly hate maggots, gonna invest in some hairspray now, thanks for the tip.


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## lindsayH (26 May 2010)

I'm a veterinary nurse at a vets that regularly treats chickens. I'm glad your chicken is still going this morning! If there was just a small wound and 'surface' maggots you might get away with it, but bear in mind that they can bury VERY deep sometimes! They also start out just a couple of millimeters long so can be hard to see. If it's anywhere near her vent, they will almost certainly be up there too. Maggots are extremely painful, so if in any doubt, please take her to a vet. She really should have some sort of systemic treatment to kill them. Maggots can also be indicative of an underlying problem, such as poo problems so it's probably best to at least call the vet for advice. Good luck with her!


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## *hic* (26 May 2010)

Frontline spray makes maggots get off pretty damned quick!


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## Dogstar (26 May 2010)

Thanks Saucisson, I was really surprised the hairspray worked but hey...The maggots were really stomach churning but I used to deal with them on sheep so kind of used to it luckily! I was far more grossed out when my old mare got them on her melanoma last year, so I have bought her a fly rug this Summer! Ooh Jemima_too just read your post, what is Frontline spray?? Thanks


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## Dogstar (26 May 2010)

Ooh LindsayH just saw your post too thanks. Yes they had started on a smallish back wound (maybe been pecked or caught it on something) and as she had been scouring (so yes an underlying problem?) they had moved down, so they were round the vent BUT she is so much better today and they were tiny I am hopeful I might have caught them in time? I will ring the vets to see what they say though. Thanks so much..


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## GypsyGirl (26 May 2010)

I really hope the chicken is okay now! My rabbit got fly strike last year, we managed to get as many out as possible and spoke to the emergency vet on the phone and he said that it must of just happened and to try get as many out as possible and if it got worse then to take him up there. All the maggots were in his bum aswell .. So all night we were up getting the maggots out of his bum .. Luckily the vet is down the bottom of my road so I saw the vet nurse turn up at 7:30 and rushed him down there where they shaved off the hair around his bum and then soaked and pluked the maggots out. He stayed there for the whole day and luckily the vet got rid of them all and she said that it would of just happened, we got some rear guard that we put on and some anti botics and hes fine now. I am so worried for this summer, hes going to be 9 this year and has arthritis in his hips so can't clean his behind, so I have to do it for him! Lol Im going to invest in a mosketo (cant spell) net and cut it over his hutch so hopefully that will minimise the flys too. The joys of the hot weather! (

p.s sorry for my rambling lol xx


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## Dogstar (26 May 2010)

Oh poor bunny, glad he pulled though! Maggots are so gross. I am going to have a bath now after the foul chicken cleaning experience!


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## legaldancer (26 May 2010)

This happened to my hen & they'd eaten quite a hole.It was near her vent, but not actually in the vent. Vet cleared them all out & I used Dermoline (I think) cream on her twice a day. I think you usually use this on cat's abcesses & the like, also cattle? Yellow & white tube.

Anyway, it cleared up quite quickly & healed well. I had to get disposable gloves on & get my fingers right in the hole to rub it in. Not nice, but it did the trick. Good luck with yours.


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## Saucisson (26 May 2010)

I've got to ask, what's the vent? 

I'm thinking it's a chicken's.......uh-hum......unmentionables?


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## *hic* (26 May 2010)

Vent = cloaca = combined outlet for waste and eggs

Frontline spray = flea spray for cats and dogs


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## Tiggy1 (26 May 2010)

Op sheep dip??


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## Dogstar (26 May 2010)

Latest update. Checked chicken (she is actually an Araucana) very carefully and resprayed with tetracycline. All maggots definitely gone! Quite extensive yukky skin where maggots were eating, but shallow damage and seems to be drying nicely. Chicken now perky and happy with her mates, though looks very odd (blue sprayed and tail less!) so I am quite confident we are nearly there now! Tiggy1, I am still racking my brains, it may have been dip, but I had a feeling it was something else kept specially. It is a childhood memory imprinted, of seeing gallons of maggots literally pouring off this poor lamb once this stuff was applied (vom).


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## mon (26 May 2010)

crovect or dysect pour on for sheep kills maggots, had to do a shorn sheep with serious fly strike with crovect last night she is lot better now but just didnt fancy rice after doing sheep!


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## Rosehip (27 May 2010)

Spot on is fab for killing maggots, its doesnt deter them, but makes them fall off a wound pretty much straight away. If it was a childhood memory OP then I would say it would have been sheep dip - not easy to get hold of now, and vile dangerous stuff! Stick to Flea spray and crovect!  Mon - I know what you mean about rice - I go right off during the summer months!!


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## Dogstar (27 May 2010)

Haha yes I may skip the rice for a while. I still feel a bit queasy thinking about all those clumps of little maggots, plus it was the slimy rustling noise they made that was worst  :-( My little Araucana has been out free range in the sun today, right as rain, what a lucky chuck! Agree; sheep dip is horrible but I spent many childhood days covered in the stuff so I'm probably already doomed...


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