Very sorry about the loss of Gertrude, and that took some humility and humbleness, even courage to admit to the loss. We love the birds, and have names for all 4. We then enclosed that in side an even larger chicken run, and also let them into the back yard. We got 4 brown hybrids from a local farmer this past Spring, and built a nice big A-frame for them. My wife and I decided, last Winter, to keep chickens in our back yard. Go hug your family farmer or urban/homesteader today, they might just need it. Praise the Lord for our family farmers and the time, commitment and passion they have to raising animals as God intended. It takes a gentle spirit to love on the natural needs of a mama and her babes. It takes a strong soul willing to tend to an animal in need, even when there’s blood involved. It takes a heart willing to lower themselves to poop every single day. I have so many thoughts running through my head right now and blog posts that will stem from it.įor now, raising backyard chickens is not easy. I’m trying to realize that this is a season and it to will pass. What is difficult for me right now is not just that she passed but in how it happened. I’m doing the best that I can to raise these animals in a way that is glorifying to Him. In between tending to their needs, making sure their coop is mite free and in this extreme heat adding blocks of ice to their water dish every couple of hours, could I continue?! In the matter of three years I’ve lost one girl to my dog, I nursed one girl back to health from having been bit (early days of mixing in dogs with chickens), and now I lost Gertrude to maggots. I then started to think if I could continue in chicken keeping. She must have had a small scratch or wound and the flies went in and laid their eggs.įrom what I’ve read, these maggots multiply quickly and in a matter of a couple of days you can have a problem.Īfter disposing of her, I picked up all of my other girls and made sure they were okay. In the heat, flies will attack anything they can. I went into panic attack and immediately ran inside to google how in the world this could have happened.Īpparently this does happen and I just had no idea to even think about looking for it. “Why didn’t I see this?” “How could I not have caught this earlier?” “What about the other girls?” “What about my dogs?” I felt horrible and so sad that she had to go through this. I started to cry and literally fifteen minutes after cleaning her off she started to convulse and passed away.īy then my boys were wondering what was going on and gathered around me to find out why I was crying and what happened to their chicken.Īll I could reply was, “mama didn’t take care of her.” I pulled her off the perch and as I started to clean her I noticed just how big a wound these disgusting bugs left on my girl. I ran into my garage to throw on some gloves and grab a bowl of warm water. I started to tear then as I couldn’t understand why this had to happen. Tons of maggots were crawling all over her. Her eyes were drooping and my heart sank as I looked up in her vent area. Gertrude was perched up on her roost and not looking good at all. On Monday morning I went out early to give my girls fresh water, feed and vegetable scraps from the garden. I look at my girls every day and can tell right away if something is going on, I honestly didn’t see this. I honestly had NO IDEA to even think that flies could bother my chickens in such a horrid way. With so many annuals, perennials and vegetables in my yard, I am constantly outside and know each and every one of my girls. I change their bedding every few days and maintain a clean urban yard. I intentionally keep my coop wide open for air circulation. The temperatures in Iowa have been brutally hot. Unfortunately, she ended up dying of Myiasis. I am so saddened as I was honestly thinking about keeping her past her laying days. I’m into my third year of raising urban chickens and on Monday, I lost my Golden Laced Wyandotte, Gertrude. Animals that need constant attention and with the good comes the bad. Feed them, make sure they have fresh water and you’ll have an over abundance of nourishing eggs, right? We have these visions of cute fluffy chickens clucking around in our backyards readily leaving bright orange pastured eggs every single day. With the popularity of keeping urban chickens, more and more people are adding a small flock to their backyard. I’m writing this post to open up my heart and share with you some of my thoughts and recent feelings.

Fly strike chicken