Wet and Dry Fowl Pox - Graphic Pictures of Pus and Scabs

[casportpony]

Hen #1 - Both wet and dry pox

 

[kuntrygirl]

Kathy, I know what you are going through 12 fold because I had 12 poults in October 2012 that I put outside during mosquito season in Louisiana (without vaccinating them) and they got wet pox. This is what I did. This may not work for everyone but it worked for me. It takes patience, time and MANY sleepless nights. Kathy, these babies were literally blind during this time. I am happy to say that I did not lose 1 single poult. All of the pulled through. If I would have not devoted my time and 3 hours of sleep each night, I would have lost ALL of them. My motto is "No one dies on my watch."

My poults looked 3 times worst than your girl and survived. They literally have ooey goeey stuff oozing from every orface.

This was my treatment plan. This is what I did. Please read below.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/708830/update-chickens-might-have-wet-fowl-pox#post_9723979

Symptoms:
Gasping for breaths
Clear, yellow and green gunk coming from their eyes and mouth.
One or both eyes were VERY swollen and shut. Most of them could not see. They were walking around in circles.
Large wet scabs had taken over their beaks and mouths.
Stopped eating and drinking
Weight loss
Odor from head and mouth area.
Drooping head
Some were unable to walk
Constant sleeping

My Wet Pox Medical Supply Kit
1. Penicillin
2. Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder
3. Enfamil Poly-Vi-sol Liquid WITHOUT IRON vitamins for kids
4. Anti-bacterial soap
5. Saline solution
6. Flockraiser crumble (mixed with a bit of hot water for feeding)
7. Gatorade
8. Yogurt
9. Pedia sure
10. Latex gloves
11. LARGE wide feeder (Medium size metal pot) - Because they were blind, I wanted a wide open feeder where they could easily access and peck around without trying to
find and peck through a feeder hole.
12. Dishpan for water.
13. Syringe without the needle
14. Bleach

Daily Diet
Mixture of flockraiser crumble (mixed with warm water for easy digestion), scrambled eggs and yogurt. I mixed all of this together and hand fed this to them 3 times a day. I made the mixture as soft/watery as possible because I was literally hand feeding them. Flockraiser crumble was still available for them in it's original form (not mixed with water) and placed in their area. If they stumbled onto the feeder, they would eat.

Set up
1. I removed ALL of them from the chicken yard and set up a make-shift infirmary in my garage.
2. I squared off/blockaded an area wide enough for them to walk around but still able to locate their feeder and waterer if they "ran into it". Most of them were blind from the
large scabs that had swollen and covered their eyes they could not see.

Daily Routine:
1. I cleaned their faces 3 times a day with an anti-bacterial soap for the 1st wash and for the 2nd wash, I used a saline solution. I would not suggest anyone do this but after 3 weeks of not seeing any improvement with the scabs leaving, I picked the scabs off. The skin did bleed a bit but the scabs didn't begin to heal until AFTER I started pulling the scabs. After pulling the scabs, I washed the area with a saline solution. I ALWAYS wore gloves and I changed out and disposed gloves EVERY TIME I went to the next turkey. I never used the same pair of gloves on every turkey when working with them. I did not want more cross contamination although they all had the same thing.
2. I would also gently squeeze the stuff that looked like cottage cheese chunks out of their eyes after every face and eye wash on a daily basis.
3. Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder and fresh water was mixed for them daily. Because they could not see and probably wasn't drinking the amount that they needed, I used the sryinge to draw up the mixture and slowly drizzle it down their throats. In addition to the medicated water, I also used the syringe to give them fresh water 3 times a day. I also gave them 3 cc's of gatorade (electrolytes & for dehydration) daily. I gave them Pedia sure every other day for weight gain, growth and development.
4. I gave them Penicillin (at room temperature) orally 3 times a day EVERY day.
5. I gave then Poly-Vi-Sol liquid once a day every day.
6. Because they weren't able to preen their feathers, I bathed (bubble bath) them every 3 days with warm water and a little anti-bacterial soap. I made sure they were completely dry and warm before putting them back in the garage.
7. I kept their area sanitized and clean with bleach and water. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing every day.

This was a VERY tedious routine. I would see to them after I finished my other chores with the other animals. I would not finish with them until midnight on most nights but I was determined to save them. After about 5 weeks, I saw MUCH improvement and I started letting them walk around in the back yard every day to familiarize them with the rest of the world being as though they had been cooped up for 5 weeks without seeing or feeling any sunlight or smelling fresh air. After about 6 weeks all of them were healed and had no symptoms and were back to normal. I placed them back in a coop with no other critters for about a week to monitor to make sure that they were 100% before letting them back into general population.

After seeing that they were completely healed, I let them out with the rest of the animals. I did not have any other animals get wet pox after this. All 12 turkeys survived and are doing VERY well. I did have 1 turkey who did lose it's right eye because of the severity of the scabs but other than that the turkey is doing fine. So to say that all of them had 1 foot in the grave and survived with only 1 losing an eye, I think I did ok trying to save them.

Disclaimer:
Again, I can only detail what I did. I will not suggest that anyone do this for their poultry or game birds because it may not work for the next person. I am not a vet nor am I a person with any kind of formal training when it comes to medical care dealing with animals but I am one who reads daily on diseases, illnesses and symptoms as it relates to poultry, waterfowl and livestock.

 

[casportpony]

WOW! Poor baby. Did she survive?

Great pics!

She was alive last night, but very thin. Someone here suggested that PM another member about their treatment plan for wet pox, which I plan on doing.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Good Lord, I think I'm going to kill myself, lol.

Looks like lots of things for me to try.

-Kathy

Edited to add: They ain't gettin' no baths!

 

[Eggcessive]

That does look a little like fowl pox, especially in the fold of the comb. It tends to have that yellow brown crust with a dark brown or black scab. Here are some pictures of fowl pox (the Cornell site has 16 graphic pictures): https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/510

 

[dawg53]

That is dry pox. When there are lesions in the mouth, it is wet pox.
Do not remove dry pox lesions. They will eventually go away on their own in about a month more or less. Lesions in the mouth can be removed but there will be bleeding. Some people have used mouthwash or iodine to swab the mouth after removing the lesions. Wet pox lesions can prevent birds from swallowing food, starving them to death.
Fowl pox is a virus, there isn't any treatment. However you can put black shoe polish or iodine on the warts/nodules to help them dry quicker. Avoid the eyes and nostrils if you do this.

 

[Eggcessive]

Neosporin should *not* go into the eyes.

Vetericyn has an ophthalmic ointment. Only use treatments designed specifically for eyes in the eyes.

Sorry, but many of us put Neosporin in chickens eyes without a problem, especially if it is an unopened tube or has been used with sterile technique. Terramycin is an eye ointment, but Neosporin ophthalmic ointment only is available by prescription. If chicken owners couldn't use the Neosporin in their chicken's eyes in emergencies, then they would not be able to treat most of their injuries. Being an RN, I wouldn't recommend using Neosporin in human's eyes, but I think it is fine for chickens. Pharmacists have posted on here that OTC Neosporin is fine for chickens. Vetericyn eye gel is great, but many won't or can't spend $20 or more on something for a chicken.

 

[Janpots]

I'd like to just mention pox can be treated around outer edges with zovirax 2% aciclovir to hold it from spread. Scabs should never be removed or treated with antifungal or antibiotic especially. Once they fall off they leave no scar. Cleaning with TCP those not too close to eyes helps deaden them & stop secondary infection, then re-applying cream. One of my birds (Wood pigeons) did have a little scarring but a bacteria was under one of the lesions going into the beak through the roof of the mouth into the ear. The same bacteria also causes issues in Chickens according to Peter Brown the Chicken doctor. Providing the bird is caught early on & the immune system massively boosted with no antibiotics given prospects are great. I would say the bird must be brought into the home for full time care. Always check the vent & watch out for canker. Treat all sores with TCP liquid neat as it also has a numbing agent. Yes it's strong but it works well & better than Betadine. Have lugols iodine for cleaning the choanal slit in upper beak. This is where infections gain entry hiding in there. Bird should be kept in a clean environment isolated where no pathogenic bacteria can get into the system & attack internally. This is because antibiotics, especially Baytril, usually end in the life lost. If you see wet pox in the beak (a white lesion a bit like our mouth ulcers) clean with lugols 5% & put on aciclovir. We did this to a young feral in India which had dry pox. One of a pair first one recovered but then discovered the white lesion in the beak of the second still recovering. It worked for the young woman very quickly & the second bird recovered too.

 

[kuntrygirl]

WOW! Poor baby. Did she survive?

Great pics!

 

[casportpony]

As for plans , I'm going to weigh, worm and dust them, of course, lol, then those that aren't eating or are loosing weight will get tube fed. Not too worried about the dry pox, like everyone says, that clears up on it's own.

-Kathy