Flystrike in chicken?

[OzarksRider]

One of my hens has been “off” lately, lying around all hunched up, not moving much, and staying by herself a lot. She had a messy butt, and when I examined her I saw what looked like hundreds of tiny white larvae crawling around. She also has what I think is a hard thick scab on her butt. Could this be flystrike? I thought I would find maggots if it was flystrike, but I didn’t see any of those. Anyway, for the past three days I’ve bathed her butt with an iodine-aloe shampoo and applied ointment to the presumed scab to try to soften it. I also wormed her just for good measure. Today she seems to be feeling better–taking a dust bath, preening her feathers, pecking around with the other hens.

Have any of you ever dealt with flystrike? Does this seem like what was wrong with my hen? If not that, what else could it be? Any suggestions for treating it?

[Simkie]

It sounds more like mites or lice to me. Topical ivermectin works well for those, or Elector PSP. Did you see any teeny tiny bugs on your hands after handling her?

It’s definitely the season for those bugs, too. Ugh.

[Mosey_2003]

Sounds more like lice. Second Elector PSP if you have it, or you can use the ivermectin or even a permethrin dunk.

She probably was feeling punky for another reason though, perhaps worms?

Picture of the scab?

[OzarksRider]

Yes, I wondered if it could be mites. I didn’t see mites anywhere else on the bird, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Whatever this was looked like very tiny worms wiggling. That’s why I thought it might be fly larvae. I didn’t spend a lot of time scrutinizing though–it was really gross and nasty. I didn’t have ivermectin handy, so I sprayed her butt with fly spray that has permethrin and they’re all gone now. I didn’t see any bugs on my hands, but they could have been rinsed off when I washed her. I also thought flystrike could kill a bird within just a day or so, but my hen had been feeling puny longer than that and I couldn’t find any actual maggots.