So it was very upsetting to discover that Trixie had suffered a fly strike. We think it was a combination of grooming herself for her nest and being a drake magnet. The boys won't leave her alone. And it's been damp. And she's been setting. And she hid her nest under a daylily, next to some siberian iris in the lower flower terrace. It's cozy there, but not much air circulation. The flies found her.
I won't describe what K2 found. Eew. It took an extremely strong stomach and a lot of courage for a 12 year old to gather Trixie up and bring her to me.
Trixie had a large active area on her lower back and a smaller area under one wing. We washed her and washed her and washed her. Then K2 did some internet research.
Can I just say right here that I heart the internet?
I heart the internet. Seriously.
K2 did the preliminary investigation and then I followed up with the technical stuff. There are wonderful posts out there about these kinds of problems. Backyard Chickens forum is a fount of excellent information.
After some reading, we decided to spray her with ProZap to kill the rest of the flies. We did that for a couple of days, then we sprayed her down with Blu-Kote as an added antiseptic to help her heal. We've kept her penned up, away from the others and out of the water so that she'll stay dry and so the boys won't bother her. [They've been hanging out right next to her pen.]
I find it professionally ironic that both of these medications dyed her blue. She's gorgeous! The light blue is the ProZap, the darker is the Blu-Kote. Yes, her beak is blue. Both medications are safe.
Seriously.