# Was this the best treatment?



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

A week ago tonight my rooster was injured. He's lost an eye. We put him back out in the chicken pen on Monday, noticed Tuesday he had flies on him and hubby sprayed with an all natural insect repellent that seemed to do the trick. 

Today Strayhorn (the rooster) had maggots in his damaged eye. I rinsed it out with hydrogen peroxide/warm water and then filled the eye socket with Neosporin.

Is there something better I can do for him? Am seriously considering taking him to our vet in the morning, even though I don't think the vet treats chickens.

:shrug:


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## mommathea (May 27, 2009)

Good question. If it were me I would NOT take a chicken to the vet - unless this was a very, VERY special chicken. Just not worth it, and vets do not know how to handle chickens.

It sounds like you did good. Just watch it every day. Make sure he gets some boosting foods such as liver, yogurt, acv in his water.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

For maggots in ducks, "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" recommends a drop of 1% injectible Ivermectin applied on the skin (doesn't have to be in the eye, the neck should do it). I tried this on an injured duck and they all died off and no more for two weeks. You don't have to worry about withdrawal for any eggs, he isn't laying any... should help a lot!


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Thanks for the suggestions! We have some Ivermectin. What is acv?

BTW...if I take him to the vet there won't be any charge...and he is a VERY special rooster.


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

acv is apple cider vinegar..I feed it to my birds often, in the water..they really like it. And yogurt or sour cream, sour milk (raw) and oatmeal.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

AH...have some acv. Yeah, my chickens love oatmeal, yogurt, etc.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I keep Tri-Care here all the time. TSC has it & it's in the equine section. It says for horses & dogs but I've used it on a couple of my ducks at different times, rabbits my goats. Works Great.
It has a pain reliever in it, antibiotic ointment & something to keep the flies off the injury.
I don't think it's intended for the eye but the way it sounds his eye is gone anyways & it's just the socket, right? If that's the case I'd use the Tri-Care, it's good stuff.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Yes, the eye is gone. Will see if the Co-op has some Tri-Care. TSC is 25/30 miles away, so hopefully the Co-op will have some. They have a huge horse section.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

I keep a bottle of "NFS Puffer" on hand... Its great for surface wounds, cuts and eye infections on every animal I've got and costs a measly 6$. On a wound like that I'd sprinkle the powder in and seal it in with neosporin or vaseline just to keep it in. 

ACV in the water anytime something looks poorly. I don't know what it is about it and there's never been any science to back up it's effectiveness but you can't deny it's worked for people and animals for hundreds of years.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Hubby ended up calling in sick to work and going to TSC. He came home with Blu-Kote and we sprayed the eye socket good after cleaning it out as best we could. The maggot infestation is BAD. Strayhorn seems good otherwise. Finally found the Ivermectin and going to put a drop on him now.

Oh...Strayhorn is back to living in the bathroom for now.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Ravenlost said:


> Hubby ended up calling in sick to work and going to TSC. He came home with Blu-Kote and we sprayed the eye socket good after cleaning it out as best we could. The maggot infestation is BAD. Strayhorn seems good otherwise. Finally found the Ivermectin and going to put a drop on him now.
> 
> Oh...Strayhorn is back to living in the bathroom for now.


Rl you need to pick or flush out every single maggot  And then poke around and look some more for tails of maggots sticking out from where they may have burrowed. Poor chicken.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

If you get all of the maggots out it will heal quickly even without any medication.
The hydrogen peroxide should kill them but you may have to remove some.
The maggots actually help by eating the dead flesh.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Since flushing and picking and doing it again and again, then spraying Blu-kote I haven't seen any more movement in the eye socket. I hope to goodness we got them all. If not, I hope the drop of Ivermectin will kill them.

He has eaten a bit and drank water. After all he's been through, I hope he survives this!


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

pancho said:


> If you get all of the maggots out it will heal quickly even without any medication.
> The hydrogen peroxide should kill them but you may have to remove some.
> The maggots actually help by eating the dead flesh.


You beat me to it! Some maggots inside the eye cavity would help it heal, just bandage over the wound so other insects or flies can't get to it.

Maggots only eat rotting flesh and DO NOT eat healthy flesh. In Europe they use maggots to heal sores on humans (especially diabetics) because the sores or wounds heal from the inside continuing to the outer layer instead of healing over to leave it festering inside. Once the maggots eat all the decaying tissue they start to move around looking for more food.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Well, we found two more wounds full of maggots tonight. One on the back of his neck and one under his wing. We've just finished (it's 4 a.m. here) picking, bathing, cleaning and treating him. If Strayhorn survives this I will be amazed. He is one tough chicken...he was even eating the maggots we picked off him.

BLAH...if I ever go to bed tonight (this morning) I will probably have maggot infested nightmares.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Blowfly maggots will burrow into living flesh...


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Rl it is gross isn't it - a few months ago my sister called me to come look at a cat that had some pretty bad wounds. Looked like a dog had gotten a hold of her and there were soooo many maggots. That's where my original comment came from... every time I thought I had them all and dug around with a flashlight I found more maggot tails where they had burrowed into the live flesh. Poor cat. She did not have fun that day. But once all the maggots were out the wounds healed right up because it was so clean.
Maggots can be used to clean wounds but when they are still growing and the dead flesh is gone they gotta go.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Unless you know what kind of maggots you have, you can't count on them staying out of the healthy flesh. Get rid of them all. Peroxide does cause them to come out of the wound, but the best treatment I found was the Ivermectin - they stay gone for a week or more and the bird has a chance to heal up. No more nasty maggot hunting! That is SO awful.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Well, the Ivermectin we had on hand expired in Jan. 2011 so I doubt it helped much. So far today we've only found one lone maggot and it wasn't in a wound...it was stuck in Strayhorn's feathers.

I think last night's marathon maggot hunt was successful. We shall see.


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