Hey everyone......I need help!
I have about 40 chickens, mostly bantams but a few Rhode Island Reds (very old ladies). I have a couple of really good brooder bantams that have hatched out multiple batches of chicks this spring and summer. The very last batch, however, has something that I have never seen. No one else has anything like it. I have read so much in several places and forgive me if i have overlooked some info. The chicks are about two months old now, and out of a hatch of eight, four have yellowy crusty swollen shut eyes. They also have some strange bumps on their beaks. Everything I read says Fowl Pox but I am wondering if that is right and if so, how did they get it. I haven't added any new birds....except the chicks that hatched out and they all have been super healthy. I did go into the coop one night to close them up and when I turned on the light there were mosquitoes all over them. I have read that the pox can be transmitted by mosquitoes. I live in the south and it is brutal here this year.
Just wondering if that sounds right to anyone, and if so, what can I do about it? I have been putting iodine in their water, giving them probiotics, and today got in my Oxine and I sprayed the entire roost with it. I also sprayed the chicks too. (Diluted according to directions of course.) I did read, here I think, that if it is the Fowl Pox, that I can use diluted iodine (I use Lugol's) to bathe their eyes with and the lesions.
Am I on the right track? All the pics I see of Fowl Pox involve adult chickens and have the black spots on their combs, but no eye problems. The bumps on the chicks' beaks are not black.
Do I need to cull these chicks?
I am stumped? Any thoughts or wisdom? Anything will be greatly appreciated!
Barbara
