Fowl pox or fight?

We are having a sad situation over with our small flock. 3 of my 9 chickens have come down with fowl pox. 5 of my chickens that I bought from a breeder are not showing signs. These 5 had the vaccine as chicks. I am praying it is still in their system as they are past the age to readminister the poxine vaccine. Only one has begun laying. I ordered the poxine vaccine as I have read that I can give it to the members of the flock who are not showing signs yet. It will arrive today.

This girl is one that I am concerned about though. I have had her for a little while now. She was a gift from my aunt. A boy have her and her sister to her because he wanted them to have good homes. They are little sweethearts. I don't know her history so I don't know if she was vaccinated. 2 days ago I noticed she had some scabbing on her face but it looked like she had been in a fight. She had a cut on her eye. Yesterday there was swelling around her eye and some irritation, today it is completely swollen shut. I am using Vetericyn on it, treating it as a battle wound...watching it close. Any change for the worst I plan to take her to a vet.

My question is, does this look like a battle wound of fowl pox? I had been planning to give her the vaccine today since she was not showing signs of it. However, now I don't know. There are no circular scabs. Just these couple areas with little scabs. A little swelling in her comb, and her poor eye.

tlouiselle said:

We are having a sad situation over with our small flock. 3 of my 9 chickens have come down with fowl pox. 5 of my chickens that I bought from a breeder are not showing signs. These 5 had the vaccine as chicks. I am praying it is still in their system as they are past the age to readminister the poxine vaccine. Only one has begun laying. I ordered the poxine vaccine as I have read that I can give it to the members of the flock who are not showing signs yet. It will arrive today.

This girl is one that I am concerned about though. I have had her for a little while now. She was a gift from my aunt. A boy have her and her sister to her because he wanted them to have good homes. They are little sweethearts. I don't know her history so I don't know if she was vaccinated. 2 days ago I noticed she had some scabbing on her face but it looked like she had been in a fight. She had a cut on her eye. Yesterday there was swelling around her eye and some irritation, today it is completely swollen shut. I am using Vetericyn on it, treating it as a battle wound...watching it close. Any change for the worst I plan to take her to a vet.

My question is, does this look like a battle wound of fowl pox? I had been planning to give her the vaccine today since she was not showing signs of it. However, now I don't know. There are no circular scabs. Just these couple areas with little scabs. A little swelling in her comb, and her poor eye.

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pox but last stage. she has probably had it for about 5 weeks now. should be gone soon.

I would try to get the shut eye open gently, and use some Vetericyn eye gel or Terramycin ointment on it twice a day. Those are probably peck wounds, but watch her swollen eye for pus or drainage. If she starts sneezing or having noisy breathing, she may have a respiratory disease, and may need to be treated with Tylan 50. Chickens that have fowl pox will be immune to that particular strain of pox for life. Vaccination is only necessary if you live in a warm tropical environment, or if you have seen a bad outbreak. Simple dry pox with a scab or two isn't anything to worry about, but lots of lesions or the wet pox that infects the inside of the throat can be serious.

We do live in humid Florida where the mosquito seems to be the "state bird" ;-P It has been a nightmare the past few weeks over here. I have another post about it. Our neighbor encouranged the local muscovy ducks to nest on their property. She then fed and protected the babies because she felt that "we need more ducks on the lake for the ecosystem" (dont get me started, she is now playing the blame game with all the neighbors). 20+ babies survived. Flew over and won't leave our fenced in yard. Discovered the chicken coop/food so I cant let them out and leave the doors open because the second I go inside the ducks flock over and are inside within minutes. We had a respiratory disease go through some so they were seperated and treated with an antibiotic. I had to leave town. While I was away my husband found one chicken had passed away. When I came home from my trip I noticed the 3 that now have fowl pox were thinner. 2 days later I saw the scabs on the combs. They are thin but very active and alert. Eating. Drinking. I have not seen anything in their mouths/throats when I look. I am making a mash for them as well. My vet told me to get everyone on an antibiotic to fight a secondary infection. So she is currently on antibiotics.

I have the vaccine arriving for my ones that had it as young babies and are ready for the second one. I just was not sure if I could give it to this little girl or not. I had planned on it because she was not showing signs of pox. This scab/eye thing on her started 2 days ago.

Eggcessive said:

I would try to get the shut eye open gently, and use some Vetericyn eye gel or Terramycin ointment on it twice a day. Those are probably peck wounds, but watch her swollen eye for pus or drainage. If she starts sneezing or having noisy breathing, she may have a respiratory disease, and may need to be treated with Tylan 50. Chickens that have fowl pox will be immune to that particular strain of pox for life. Vaccination is only necessary if you live in a warm tropical environment, or if you have seen a bad outbreak. Simple dry pox with a scab or two isn't anything to worry about, but lots of lesions or the wet pox that infects the inside of the throat can be serious.

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I am dealing with pox and a few of mine had 1-2 scabs only and looked exactly like in the above pic. antibiotics will help with the secondary infections.

My chickens have only had 1 scab also, and I have only seen it a couple of times. The cases of pox that many on here have usually are covered with them. The reason I was thinking they were peck marks is that the eye is very swollen. Pox around the eye can cause pretty bad infection. Usually pox can start out with a beige or tan spot changing to brown almost black. It looks different in each case. These pictures show that:

Thats why I was thinking it was peck marks. She had no beige or tan spots to start with. She went to bed fine and woke up with little scab marks overnight. I had left them in the coop for the most part of the day. Usually I let them out but I have been trying to keep them away from the ducks.

I am new to the chicken world. Only have had them since March. So I freak and go over everyone with a fine tooth comb while I am learning. I am 100% sure that she went to bed with healthy red skin and comb because I have been checking daily since my wyandottes showed signs last week.

I am still learning about illnesses and how they show their ugly faces. So just very clueless in this situation.

I love this forum. Everyone has been so helpful

only 1 of mine had about 5-6 scabs on her comb. she is a white leghorn. the others with 1-2 scabs are golden comets. my mutts didn't have scabs but got wet pox and I put 1 drop of iodine in their mouth. it was gone within 1-2 days. I also put lime (limestone) and iodine in their water.

1-2 days? That's great! Her eye is doing better. It is slowly opening And getting better. I was so worried

wet pox was gone in 1-2 days with iodine, dry pox took some longer. but all survived. watch her eye, if it gets inside might be a problem.