My heart sank as soon as I opened up the coop doors to let everyone out for the morning. Every morning the routine is the same and this morning was no different. Wake up, pad downstairs, throw my particularly ugly Crocs on ... and let the chickens out for the day.
The chickens wake up about 2 hours before I do so by the time I get downstairs they're all waiting by the door anxious to get their jam packed day of scratching, pooping and lounging underway. Chickens: the men of the animal world.
So when there were only 3 chickens instead of 4 at the door this particular morning I knew something bad was waiting for me. If it had been Cheez Whiz, Mabel or Josephine that was missing I wouldn't have thought a thing about it. I'd know they were just in the nesting box laying an egg. But the missing chicken was Cuddles. Cuddles doesn't lay anymore, giving up on that after her near death experience last summer. She now spends her time like most retirees do. Snacking and napping. And playing golf.
I let the other chickens outside, then took a peek inside the roost where the chickens sleep. Cuddles was still up on her roost with her head down looking sad. But she jumped down when she saw me and slowly made her way outside.
Because it seems like she has issues with laying internally she gets icky feeling the odd time, but once she passes a hunk of solidified egg yolk, she's back to normal. It usually takes a half a day to a day and I figured that's what the problem was. So I went about my day checking on her the odd time. She was not active, just sitting all day in one spot looking very lethargic.
You have to keep in mind that chickens can go from sick to dead in 24 hours so if one isn't feeling well you really have to pay attention. By 3 in the afternoon or so I noticed she was standing up and picking at her bum. Which is good, because if a chicken can be bothered to groom themselves then they aren't in that bad of shape. A chicken about to die doesn't dust bathe or groom, they just sit and wait to die.
When I went over to take a closer look at her, happy she was standing, I was in no way prepared for what I was about to see.
As it turns out Cuddles didn't have what I thought. She wasn't sick from laying internally. She had Flystrike. What that means is when I picked Cuddles up to give her the once over I was in for the kind of shock normally reserved for page 284 of any Stephen King novel.
Coming out of Cuddles' vent were hundreds of worms. Only they weren't worms. They were maggots. And her entire back end was COVERED in them. I was holding a chicken that had a mass of pulsating, writhing maggots.
Holy shit.
You know how you feel about maggots? That's how I feel about maggots.
Seriously. Who the F*CK decided keeping chickens was a good idea? WHOOOOO??? Ack. Me. It was me. (Sorry about the disguised swear word there Betty, but I dare you to say anything different with an ass full of maggots inches from your face)
Luckily it was a really hot day so I could run the hose all over Cuddles at full blast to get rid of the maggots. I also had to don a pair of surgical gloves to hand pick them out. Getting rid of the maggots took over half an hour because they'd crawl INTO her to escape the water.
Finally they were all gone and I could get a good look at her. The maggots had eaten a hole in Cuddles, just below her vent where they were literally eating her from the inside out. Not dead tissue. LIVE tissue. Flystrike normally hits sheep but can also attack chickens. Obviously. I dried her off, wrapped her in a towel and applied WonderDust wound powder to keep it dry and unattractive to more flies.
Flystrike is deadly for a few reasons. The maggots will literally eat the guts out of the chicken AND the maggots have a toxin on them that poisons the chicken basically. There's also the risk of infection etcetera, etcetera. I kept my eye on Cuddles for the next few days and she was fine.
Until she wasn't.
You see these maggots have several stages of pupation and before I knew it, she was being eaten by maggots again. Lesson to you ... if you have a chicken that gets Flystrike, check them several times a day for at least a week to make sure they aren't infested again.
The second time I realized she had Flystrike was around 5 days after the initial attack. I had to go through everything again, removing the maggots and washing her completely. This time it wasn't warm out though so I had to keep her inside the house to make sure she stayed warm. The maggots gave her a fever probably from infection so she needed to be extra warm. I don't know when the last time you blow dried a chicken but I can tell you it takes about the same amount of time it takes to find a bathing suit that looks good on you after the age of 17. Hours. HOURS.
The next morning I went to see a local vet that advises me the odd time something goes wrong with my chickens. He told me to keep her inside for a few days so I could keep a close eye on her, so she wouldn't be picked on by the other chickens and so she'd be away from alllll flies (more on my hatred of them later).
I also decided to give her antibiotics. I had some left over from her episode last year, plus got a new prescription from my vet.
To get her to take the antibiotics I diluted them in water and then put scraps of spinach and raisins to soak in it. She would both drink the antibiotic water and eat the antibiotic laced raisins and greens.
By the next morning she was a bit better but still obviously sick.
By that night she was feeling well enough to know that laying on the floor wasn't fun and hopped up into my pantry when it came time to roost.
By the third night she was feeling perfect, had a great appetite and the only trace that maggots had been around was the plum sized scab under her vent where the maggots had attacked her. I knew when she jumped up on my shoe cabinet to roost for the night she would be O.K. to put outside the next night.
This all happened a few weeks ago. I don't have any pictures of the maggots because my concern was fixing Cuddles, not taking photos. Also, I was 90% sure this was going to kill her and didn't really want to document her death walk if I didn't have to.
Which brings us to this question.
HOW DOES A CHICKEN GET FLYSTRIKE?
Flies are attracted to crap. Chicken coops/runs are filled with crap no matter how often you clean the run. Certain chickens have a tendency to have poopy bums. Cheez Whiz and Cuddles are two such chickens.
No matter how hard they try, these two always have poop on their bums. They always have and I imagine they always will.
My two copper Marans on the other hand have never once had poop on their bums.
You could literally smash your face into their puffy bums with no fear of feces.
Flies are attracted to the poop on chickens bums and if given a chance will lay their eggs right there. The eggs then hatch into the world's most hospitable maggot condo: the chicken anus.
Once they're there, they aren't leaving until they've eaten a big hole in your chicken, made you a gagging twitching pile of goo and generally turned your life into a horror movie of a maggoty mess.
In fact the only thing more revolting than the maggoty mess is the homemade fly trap that I made to combat the fly problem. More on that and the other 2 fly traps I tested in the next post.
The moral of this story? There are very few situations a little cuddle and the word f*ck can't fix. And of course in certain situations a round of antibiotics can't hurt either.
Update: Since this post, little Cuddles has died, but it wasn't from Flystrike. She had a long term bout with egg yolk peritonitis. The last day of her life had the potential to be one of the worst days of both our lives, but the world's kindest vet came to the rescue.
Well, f u c k.
I know, right? ~ karen!
I have a chicken now with the same problem. My hubby cleaned her last night and this morning she is covered with the maggots again. Our vets don't take care of any animal except cats and dogs. So, no antibiotics. How exactly do I rid her of them? This morning I pulled off what I could, sprayed the poultry protector on her then put DE. Any help is appreciated.
HI Charlene. Just do exactly as I say in the post. ~ karen!
I soak my chicken in a deep bucket with warm water containing salt, previously infused English Ivy, bay leaves a bit of natural soap, a bit of chlorine bleach which I pour when I see the maggots floating, and yesterday I even added some boric acid to the water. I let her soak for as long as an hour!
Oh my word!
I had no idea that chickens could get flystrike. I really appreciate your article and I absolutely love your writing! Thank you for the gross laugh and information.
I am glad cuddles made it!
I am so sorry about Cuddles, internal laying is really hard to deal with. For the future if anyone has this happen to their chickens I have found that giving your chicken penicillin 250 mg crushed mixed with a little water given orally once in the morning and once at night, so 500 mg a day, can help with internal laying/ egg yolk peritonitis. You only give them this for 5 days straight. The key though is catching it early, and it is more of likely to go away if the abdomen still feels soft and not hard. Also you can normally tell that they have it if the abdomen is swollen and the skin around the lower part of their rib cage is swollen. They will also be really lethargic and keep their tail feathers down, but the swelling will help indicate that it is internal laying. I feel bad that I didn’t discover this until after 7 of my hens died from it within a 2 1/2 year span. Bertha was my first chicken I was able to save doing the penicillin rounds and she has been happy and healthy for over 2 months now. Also, if you own battery hens, ISA Browns in particular, get internal laying more often than other hens.
Thank you so much for sharing. I love chickens and have had them for 30 years now . And I am still learning new things. I never knew about the flies and maggots before but it good to know and watch out for . My heart sank when you said cuddles died . That’s the only thing I really hate about getting attached to any animals . It hurts so bad to lose them. Good luck to you and your other babies.
hi,
thanks for this, even though it was a disgusting read. i have 3 chickens and i didn't want them to get anything like this (i also hate flies, and especially their babies, ack!) so i found something on another chicken blog that you might appreciate. it works AMAZING at killing flies!!! get a mason jar with a lid, put a piece of meat in the jar (i used sandwhich meat but any kind will do), pour some maple syrup over this to cover the meat, let's say about an inch, poke some holes in lid big enough for flies to get through, screw the lid on and leave this by your chicken coop, recycling bin, or anywhere you have flies. THIS WORKS! you will catch MASSIVE AMOUNTS of flies! you'll be amazed---i tried it last summer and caught at least a bazillion---they were to the very top of the jar within a few days, which is disgusting when you think about how many flies that is, but who cares? flies in jar=no flystrike!
So I've had this happen a couple of times. What you need to do is go to the grocery store and buy the shampoo they sell for head lice. Mix a directed in a bucket of water, like a mop bucket and hold your chickens butt in the water for about five minutes. You will kill about 95% of them on the first go but best to follow up with a couple more treatments on consecutive days.
Interesting! Good to know Richard. Much more efficient (and less gross) than washing them in the chicken in the bathtub! ~ karen
Thanks for your humorous but informative recount.
Our beautiful girl, Bessie, has Flystrike and I am worried as to what to do. I have soaked her in a warm bath and wiped most of the foul smelling liquid and faeces from her bottom. I will now try antibiotics and hope to God that she makes it! She's such a soft, friendly chook.
Wish me luck!!!
It looks like she's healing up. Just keep an eye on it to make sure no more maggots are coming out. Also cover it with powder like I suggest to keep it dry. And look into every means possible for controlling flies! I use traps, parasitic wasps and try to keep things relatively clean in the coop. It's a horrible thing to go through. Good luck! ~ karen!
Thanks Karen! Will do.
May I just say, I'm so sorry. Also, I am a diatomaceous earth fanatic, I always sprinkle in the coop to kill larvae and bugs. I kind of layer under hay or shavings. It is dust so it should not be inhaled by humans or even chickens so you have to be mindful with it. I only buy foodgrade and organic. It is a miracle worker. In addition we add oregano oil to their water weekly and that help she with parasites. Wanted to share what works for me.
Thanks Allison. ~ karen!
I so appreciate this blog...gross as it may be. I'm new to this chicken raising thing. We moved from the east coast to Missouri last year and made a make shift chicken run with a coop. I let my 7 buff orpingtons free range. Bad idea...fox or something got them all in one swoop. So sad. So now I have a fully enclosed chicken run and am awaiting some pullets. I've dealt with molt and various other ailments but never flystrike. I'm now prepared (I think) for the worst of the worst. I'll at least know what I need to do to try and save one of my girls. Thanks Karen for taking one for the chicken loving team!
Just when I think I've heard of all the things that can go wrong with chickens- Bam somebody posts something new to me?
Thanks for sharing, never knew about this? But yes makes perfect sense.
As well what kind if antibiotics did the vet prescribe?
Happy farming, from Geraldton Ontario Canada.
Hi Andre. I just used antibiotics that I had at home from a previous episode of egg yolk peritonitis which was Apo Tetra. It isn't always a good idea to just use whatever you have on hand because different antibiotics are used for different things as you know, but in this case it was life or death. And it worked! ~ karen
I just wanted to post a reply to this, even though it's way late, because your blog post really helped us. We had the same experience, of seeing one of our hens get quite sick quickly. Turns out she had flystrike. Which is actually far more disgusting than your post made it out to be. Luckily, my boyfriend is a champion and got her all cleaned up. I was ready to take her to our chicken dispatching friend, because I was SURE she was going to die. It was awful! How could a small, sick bird recover?!? But, with some TLC and indoor living in a pen near a heat source, she totally recovered. She's a happy hen once again. I'm not sure if she lays eggs or not (have never ever figured out how people catch them in the act - I'm too busy to stare at them all day and they're sneaky), but she enjoys herself once again. Thanks for the help and guidance!
I am sorry to hear that Cuddles has passed away. I discovered your blog because I saw a post somewhere about Cuddles being sick and followed her story. Have followed your blog since then.
Thank you so much for sharing. I'm in the process of renovating an old farm to produce a cooking school with a vegetable garden with Chickens! I didn't know about this - really good to know! It's not going to deter me though. I still have a couple of years to go until I am ready to have chickens, and I cannot wait! Thank you for sharing your experience and what you did to overcome it!
You're welcome Emma. Good luck with your new business! That sounds like a dream job/life! :) ~ karen!
My Beyonce just had a case of flystrike. Turns out she has a tumor on her hind end and it broke through the skin leaving her vulnerable. I brought her in and bathed her treated her with Vetricyn (does anybody else think this stuff is miraculous?) I took her to the vet and she is inoperable. She is my favorite so I am just keeping her comfortable in the garage with lots of treats. She gets pretty much anything she will eat. I live in hope that she will recover, she is a sweet chicken.
My Pheobe had maggots this past June. I thought she had been injured, but after reading your post I'm sure that it was Flystrike. I cleaned her for days, but the maggots kept coming back (and yes, that was one of the most repulsive, sickening thing I have ever experienced). She was an absolutely incredible, funny, loving Plymouth Barred Rock, personality personified, and it was killing me to see her suffer. I am fortunate, I have a husband that will take care of euthanizing our sick farm animals, as I would never be able to do it myself. Pheobe is now united with her sister Sybil, in Chicken Heaven. Thank you for sharing Cuddles with us. I will raise chickens for the rest of my life, or at least until they move me to a home.
Aw. I'm so sorry about Phoebe, Lona. Not a lot of people know about flystrike in Chickens. I sure didn't until Cuddles got it! So heartbreaking to see them so sick. :( ~karen!
Thank you for letting me know I am not the only one who has gone through this with one of her girls! My sweet Bess was sickly for a long time, in fact I carried her to food, sun spots and bathed her for months. Each morning I dreaded opening the coop door expecting the worst and each morning she greeted me and talked so sweet. Then she made a miraculous recovery {I credit kale}. Happy Days!! Three months later to my horror she went done very quick and like you I had the WTF moment. Unfortunately my Bess did not make it but thank you so much for your post. I did not know what it was or what caused it. Thanks to you if one of the other girls has this problem I may be able to do something.
You're definitely not the only one Robin. I don't know how long you dug into my archives (if at all) but at Christmas this past year Cuddles died. Actually I had to have her put to sleep because she refused to die even though she could barely lift her head for days! It was a sad thing to have to do at Christmas but I couldn't bear to see her in so much pain and discomfort. This spring I got "Sweetie" who is a devil-chicken, lol. Very sweet. But quite a nutjob too. ~ karen!
Thanks, Karen, for the wake up call. I'd never heard of Flystryke, and hope I never see it. At least now if I do see it I won't panic. I'll gag and cry and probably vomit, but I will be able to do what you did and hopefully save my chicken. I have a couple of girls that I need to give a booty bath to every week or so in the summer, but I never thought to check them for maggots.
I'm sorry you lost Cuddles...her name says it all. I'sure she's missed. I have five new month old silkies and one of them is a cuddler...I think I've found her new name. We called them Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo to keep track of their hatching order, but Bravo would be a much better Cuddles.
Your blog was very informative and helped us determine what was wrong with our hen. Started with a poopy bun....then picking out over 100 maggots by hand. Used peroxide, followed by a spa bath and vetericyn....she may or may not make it as she is already old...but this happened SO quickly. Even my chicken gurus never heard about fly strike. Important to share. Not giving up on having chickens....
That's great Kim. I hope she's doing O.K. Yes, it doesn't seem to be talked about that much in the chicken world but it IS a concern and definitely happens with chickens. I had a reader who lost a hen to flystrike who emailed me for advice just a few months ago. Let me know how she's doing. And if she's made it so far don't forget to check several times over the next few days for more maggots. ~ karen!
I was trying very hard to read this page of your blog, but it crashed my browser two times. Reading this on mobile now...The error message I got was "script stopped running" - thought you might want to look into that. Thanks for the helpful info and RIP Cuddles. Love the chicken butt photos :)
Thanks for letting me know! I do want to know. I'll let the people who provide my ads know. thx. ~ karen!