The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Fleecewife on June 21, 2020, 12:24:58 pm

Title: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 21, 2020, 12:24:58 pm
I thought I would share this, as it's something we didn't look out for or expect, and we have been keeping poultry for 25 years.
Yesterday we noticed our cockerel, Porthos, was behaving oddly and was not happy.  He'd been checked out a few days before for parasites and we have pellets with Flubenvet on the way to worm them all ahead of new stock arriving.
We were shearing sheep all afternoon, and I realised that his behaviour was like that of a struck sheep - crouching down, then running fast to another place, usually next to one of his hens, then crouching again, then repeating that.  So he was upended and found to have a mucky backside and a bad smell.  Into a bowl of warm soapy water and the muck removed, then the cause was found - inside his cloaca was a load of maggots.  Inside and not visible from the outside.  Now all cleared out (I'm delighted to say that Mr F volunteered  :eyelashes: ) and a tiny bit of Crovect sprayed.  He's now isolated for a while and seems to be much happier so  :fc:  he recovers.


The two surprises I wanted to share are that he showed exactly the same behaviour as a struck sheep, and the other was that the maggots were inside and could not be seen from the exterior.
I hope this helps someone else.


Incidentally, Durham Hens has a good, simple symptoms and diagnosis page, from which I concluded that my little Speckledy Thomasina who died the other day had a heart attack - it was a very hot day and she was getting a bit older.



Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: arobwk on June 21, 2020, 04:50:01 pm
As you will know by now Fleecewife, I don't keep livestock, but I follow lots of livestock posts (if only to remind myself to not keep livestock !!).  What sort of flies actually cause these problems?
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 21, 2020, 11:37:02 pm
Usually greenbottles (a bit smaller than bluebottles but even more annoying) with sheep, but we didn't see any around the cockerel.
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 22, 2020, 07:38:53 pm
The treatment appears to have worked as Porthos is out and about and just about back to normal today,  except he's avoiding his hens so perhaps he's not back to full function quite yet.
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: doganjo on June 22, 2020, 09:27:11 pm
The treatment appears to have worked as Porthos is out and about and just about back to normal today,  except he's avoiding his hens so perhaps he's not back to full function quite yet.
Maybe he thinks it was them that made him feel odd?
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Possum on June 23, 2020, 09:51:40 am
It sounds horrid. Well done for sorting it out. And thanks for letting us know. There is always something to learn............
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 23, 2020, 12:50:40 pm
The treatment appears to have worked as Porthos is out and about and just about back to normal today,  except he's avoiding his hens so perhaps he's not back to full function quite yet.
Maybe he thinks it was them that made him feel odd?

I think he's just still got a pain in his doodah  ;D
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 23, 2020, 12:54:16 pm
It sounds horrid. Well done for sorting it out. And thanks for letting us know. There is always something to learn............

Thank you Possum  :thumbsup:  I've just reminded myself of why I don't eat pheasant - my Dad used to hang them for so long you could shake the maggots out  :yuck: :yuck: :yuck:  I hate maggots - I know they have a place in the Circle of Life, but it's somewhere I prefer not to go quite yet   :tired:
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: doganjo on June 23, 2020, 06:41:17 pm
Oh yuk, that would have put me off pheasant too - when we were shooting we used to peel them as soon as we got home and only use the breasts, the skin/featherss and everything else got binned or left out for the foxes,  Our shooting friends laughed at us, but even they only hung them fro a week, or two at the most and in nets in a cool barn
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: SallyintNorth on June 23, 2020, 07:49:06 pm
I used to get given a lot of pheasants when I had friends with a shoot; a lot of the guns didn't want their birds, and presumably the beaters all got plenty but there were still some left over.

My practise was to hang them for 4 days in a cool shed if the temp was above around 5C, and up to 7 days if the temp was lower. 

They were ready when the feathers were coming out easily without tearing the skin, and just a bit too far if it was hard to remove the feathers without tearing the skin.

But I have missed a step.  I'd get them home, tied by the legs in braces, and go to the old stable we used to hang them in.  Tie them up to the beam, detach the cat that had leaped up and spreadeagled himself around them as soon as I got out the car...  :roflanim:
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 23, 2020, 09:57:39 pm
The treatment appears to have worked as Porthos is out and about and just about back to normal today,  except he's avoiding his hens so perhaps he's not back to full function quite yet.

Well, I spoke too soon as after a day of looking fairly perky, Porthos suddenly keeled over tonight.  He was a good cock, he looked after his hens very politely and diligently and didn't crow too loudly (in fact he had a hilarious strangled kind of crow which set me off giggling every time  :hughen: ) He had reached a fair age, but not the nicest way to go.  At least he was rid of the maggots I suppose.  From now on we shall keep the same kind of eye on hen's bums as we do on the sheep in warm humid weather.
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: doganjo on June 24, 2020, 01:42:39 pm
So sorrry, Juliet. Not nice losing any animal, especially when you tried so hard to help him.
Title: Re: Maggots
Post by: Fleecewife on June 24, 2020, 06:23:00 pm
So sorrry, Juliet. Not nice losing any animal, especially when you tried so hard to help him.

Yes, always sad but as you say we did our best by him.  We have certainly learnt something important and I hope it is useful to anyone reading about it.  The hens seem totally unfazed about the whole thing  ::)