Far too gross

Every time I think my life cannot get any weirder something else happens that throws me into a turmoil of what the hell do I do! Yesterday was quite a normal day, chickens getting out, and goats getting out, very normal. As we were getting some of the feral chickens back in, there was one Honeybun that was moving really slowly, which is unusual for her. This chicken could give Usain Bolt a run for his money any day.

Therefore, we knew something was wrong, we just never expected what we found...as my daughter lifted her; she was literally being eaten alive by maggots. We were shocked, and stood there for a few moments thinking what the hell we could do. She didn't fuss  or flap and was in extreme discomfort, and at this point I knew we had to try and help her, I just didn't know how! 

There was an open wound, and she had obviously been attacked by something, which had caused the injury. Unfortunately, the flies had taken their opportunity to arrive, and laid eggs. This had caused a huge problem, which I had to deal with. As I ran around screaming for towels, buckets, gloves, I actually had no idea what to do.

I googled frantically, and the only thing I found was to flush the wound, pick the maggots out one by one and pray! This was going to be a long night, there was no quick method, and the smell was awful, but slowly and gently we removed the disgusting creatures, washed the wound, and begun the process over and over. 

We were there for hours, and all the time the chicken laid incredibly still, and seemed to accept that we were attempting to help. Finally I felt that no more could be done, and we washed the wound, applied Betadine, and popped her into a box. This morning she is still with us, and eating which is fantastic, we will have a look in a minute, after my coffee, to see if there are more maggots lurking, I feel this week is going to be long!