Bad Skunk Dead Chickens

Hello.. A friend here in Cheyenne Oklahoma referred me here. I have abt 70 Chickens or so I take care of for my elderly in-laws, and about 10 of my own. Recently we had a skunk get into the chicken pen and killed 5 of our chickens. I was able to set live trap and dispose of said skunk. But it has been abt 3 weeks or so now since the incident and we have lost about 7 more. Now it seems all of our chickens are becoming ill and dieing off. We have not had any more deaths in a week or so, but as of last few days we have had about 3 chickens that have gotten eyes swollen shut mucus around and in the eyes, generally standing in one spot keep tilting head back then slowly lowering.
We have separated the sick. And yesterday I picked up 7, 6.5oz pouches of Oxytetracycline. I mixed 1oz with abt 1 1/2 gallon jugs of water and keeping them watered. I also have a medicated feed I can give them a swell but I am not sure if that would be a good idea with them already being on the Oxytetra. I was wondering if you could possibly tell me what they might have. I'm hoping its not Avian Flu or something but I was told that Avian Flu has not been spotted in Oklahoma yet as far as anyone knows. Or if there is something else I should be treating them with aswell. On a second not I have a prized Horned Polish Houdan named Diablo that I keep separate at another farm house. And he has somehow contracted some type of black comb? Not like normal black comb instead looks like black and white spots on his comb but he acts perfectly fine otherwise. But I have started giving him same treatment last night and the spots seem to already be clearing up. If it helps he is free range and we think recently he may have gotten into a fight with one of our wild turkeys out here. But was wondering if anyone could tell me anymore about that as well.


Thank you for your time I hope to get a response.

Welcome to BYC. With multiple chickens dying I would always advise to get a necropsy done by the state vet to pinpoint a cause of death. A picture of the comb would help to determine if it is something like fowl pox or peck wounds. Things like fowl cholera can be spread by a host of other farm animals to chickens. Here is a link to your state vet in Oklahoma City: http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

Thank you very much. I will get you a picture of the cone probably in the morning before I let the chickens out. I have looked at some pictures and descriptions of fowl pox and was pretty sure that might be what it was.... more like hoping, because some of the alternatives sound pretty bad. But I have checked his feces and its pretty normal and he still just as active as he has always been so am pretty sure it is not heart or liver problems. Ty for the help I will post a picture in the morning. For the other chickens we started them on the Oxy this morning so when I go to let them out hopefully they are acting a bit more lively.

Here is a picture of his comb... Not sure how well you can see what you need to see but you can see the black spots.

It's a little fuzzy, but it does look like fowl pox. Here are a variety of pox pictures that all look a bit different:

Yeah that looks like it. Is there anything else I should give him to clear it up like Probios or anything like that or should the Oxytetracycline itself be sufficient?

For the ones with the swollen eyes sound like they may have a respiratory disease such as MG or coryza. The oxytetraccline should treat the symptoms, but they may be carriers from now on. For fowl pox, there is no treatment, other than to put some iodine on the scabs to help dry them. Any pox scabs around the eyes may require some Terramycin eye ointment or Vetericyn eye gel twice a day to help prevent eye infection. Use very good handwashing and change shoes between the sick birds and the one with pox. Good luck.

Thank you very much the ones that ll getting sick seem to be acting much much better sinse these last few days. Rooster with pox is still in great condition despite the pox ty very much for your help we really appreciate it.

CTOkie said:

Yeah that looks like it. Is there anything else I should give him to clear it up like Probios or anything like that or should the Oxytetracycline itself be sufficient?

Click to expand...

Oxytetracycline is an antibiotic, used for bacterial infections. Fowl pox is caused by a virus. Antibiotics don't kill viruses, though they may be useful in preventing secondary infections in a virus-weakened animal.