Does anyone know if fowl pox is more serious in chicks than adults? And if so, how bad?
I've been researching and all I seem to find out is that they can be vaccinated, but nothing about the course of the disease if they get it. I have a small flock of 10 hens, 2 roos, and 4 11-day-old chicks. I believe all the adults have fowl pox, which I just noticed today (though looking back on it, they've had some spots for a few weeks, which I just assumed were scabs from fighting/mating, which they always have a few of). The chicks are in a hutch in the main chicken pen with the hen who hatched them, and they appear to be very healthy so far, but the mama does seem to have a few pox spots too. The other chickens can't actually get to the babies, but they're really close by, and in the last few days mama's been coming out to stretch her legs briefly and has had contact with the others.
I looked into getting the vaccine, but it comes in 1,000 dose vials and seems to be rather hard to handle (and I'm a former veterinary technician, not intimidated by meds...) and maybe not worth the effort for so few birds. And since all the adults have it already, it's only the babies who I could vaccinate anyway. So I think I'm going to just let it go and hope it runs its course without too much trouble, but I hate to think of the babies suffering...
I've been researching and all I seem to find out is that they can be vaccinated, but nothing about the course of the disease if they get it. I have a small flock of 10 hens, 2 roos, and 4 11-day-old chicks. I believe all the adults have fowl pox, which I just noticed today (though looking back on it, they've had some spots for a few weeks, which I just assumed were scabs from fighting/mating, which they always have a few of). The chicks are in a hutch in the main chicken pen with the hen who hatched them, and they appear to be very healthy so far, but the mama does seem to have a few pox spots too. The other chickens can't actually get to the babies, but they're really close by, and in the last few days mama's been coming out to stretch her legs briefly and has had contact with the others.
I looked into getting the vaccine, but it comes in 1,000 dose vials and seems to be rather hard to handle (and I'm a former veterinary technician, not intimidated by meds...) and maybe not worth the effort for so few birds. And since all the adults have it already, it's only the babies who I could vaccinate anyway. So I think I'm going to just let it go and hope it runs its course without too much trouble, but I hate to think of the babies suffering...