*Update* Chickens Might Have Wet Fowl Pox

HI,
When I was feeding my chickens this morning I heard my 6 month old Splash Andalusian making noises almost like she was talking in a low voice as she was eating. I thought maybe she had something sttuck in her throat and needed water, so I ignored it.
I just went out there and she is like wheezing.You can heart her breathe in and out in like a low chicken voice. She would sneeze every now and then, but hasn't since I brought her in the house. What can it be? What should I do? I have never had a sick chicken!
I am going to call the feed store and see if they carry any kind of antibiotic for chickens, but I don't know, I live in very rural area.

I would put her on Tylan right away. Or Penicillin injections for a week.

Tylan is a good med for some respiratory problems. I don't know if Penicillin can help with many respiratory conditions, but it might with some??

On my website below, there is a chart showing many other medicine options you can look through, too. Common sources for the meds are also listed for some of them.

After being in the house for a few days she sounded better and appeared to be okay. I thought maybe she swallowed a feather or ate a bee. I let her back out with the others( I know, stupid me).That was a week and a half ago.

Well, when I fed everyone Wednesday, I noticed she was standing in the corner of the barn with her neck stretched out and breathing through her mouth.She was also coughing/sneezing a lot with a little clear discharge- no odor. I briught her in the house and seriously thought she wasn't going to make it. She hasn't ate until this morning.

The only antibiotic I could find around here was Sulmet so I used that and and took her to the vet today.

$114.00 later, I found out that I know a lot more than the vet. She wasn't familiar with very many avian diseases. The assistant there was afraid to touch the chicken! I was a little surprised because this is a very rural area with a lot of farms. Guess most people just have goats and cows!

She did a few swab tests and will send them off Monday. She said that her lungs sound good and there were"plaques" in her mouth. I am guessing I have a wet form of fowl pox? There are A LOT of mosquitos here. There is a wetland close by. There are also A LOT of Canada geese that hang out in the pasture behind us.

I have seen a few more chickens sneezing and a few that sound wheezy. Should I just let the virus run it's course? I have about 50 chickens out there. Ages range from 6 weeks to 3 years. I have broody hens and brought the eggs in and put them in the incubator. So far 3 have hatched.I don't know what to do with all these chickens! I have a large house, small house (8 chicken size) and a chicken tractor with my roosters. All the chickens free range. I don't have any pens or runs. I also got 14 Cornish X last week and was planning to put them under a broody but haven't because I was unsure if I have some disease spreading.

Should I try to find another antibiotic (Tylan or Terimycin) or just wait it out?

Here is some info on Wet Pox:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
and
http://www.ehow.com/way_5466033_fowl-pox-home-remedy.html

It looks like it's a virus so can't be helped with antibiotics. It sounds like using an antibiotic may help to fight off potential secondary infections, however.

There is a vaccine for fowl pox, but apparently any birds already showing symptoms should NOT be vaccinated.

I wonder if Oxine might help if given down the throat or swabbed on sores??? There is some general info on Oxine on my Fungal Infections page.

Sorry to hear about your chickens. I had 12 turkeys that had THE most horrible case of wet pox a few months ago. We had a terrible case of mosquitoes this year. It was something that I NEVER want to experience EVER AGAIN in my life. I fought with wet pox for about 6 weeks with my turkeys and I have NO idea how all of them survived but they did. They were literally on death's doorstop. I read everything that I could about wet pox but NOTHING out there helped me. I researched for days and days and hours and hours. Everything that I read pretty much told me to wait for them to die but I couldn't just wait around without trying something. I finally came up with my own plan based on what I thought they needed to save their lives. I can tell you what I did to treat them but I don't know if this would help the next person. I only know that it kept my 12 turkeys alive.

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.

If there are no white bumps or bumps with black scabs forming then it's not pox.

Look up respitory diseases in chickens... It will give you a lot of info on them. Many vets don't know crap about chickens...you'd think they were aliens....

Thanks everyone. I now have 5 chickens in the "sick house" and have the original sick hen inside my house. She is doing so much better. She sneezes occasionally, but not the constant cough/sneeze like before. She is eating well and tries to talk to me when I come home, but just gets out a high pitched sound and quits( kind of like someone with laryngitis can't talk). I'm sure she is going to make it. It's been 21/2 weeks now since she first sounded sick.

The other 5 are sounding kind of wheezy. One sounds pretty "froggy". It just killed me to put 2 of my BCM hens in there. I see small black spots on combs, but don't know if it is just peck marks. I don't have any roosters running with them. My sick girl in the house has a few spots on her comb. Three of the 5 sick ones were either broody or had just raised chicks. Maybe their immune system is weakened?

I ordered some Avian Pox vaccine. It got here today. I haven't heard back from the vet. Does anyone know how long it takes labs to get your results?
I am a hesitant to use the vaccine, but it this is what it is, I want to try to halt it before it gets too far. If my hens have been exposed but are not yet showing symptoms and I give them a vaccine what will happen? Also, if I vaccinate a chicken that has been exposed and use the vaccinator tool on another am I spreading the virus?

How long are the able to spread the virus after being exposed and getting sick?

Kunttrygirl, I am glad your birds made it! I don't see how there is any way possible I could do that for all my birds if they get sick. I leave at 7am to go to work and get home around 6pm.Thank you for the tips. I am giving my sick girl chick starter so it is easier to eat.

Be careful--I read at least a couple places a strong warning that chickens shouldn't be vaccinated if already showing symptoms.

I haven't seen any cautions against giving to exposed chickens who aren't showing disease. Maybe the vaccine is okay for an infected bird as long as the disease hasn't moved into their system extensively.

angelbabyamy said:

Thanks everyone. I now have 5 chickens in the "sick house" and have the original sick hen inside my house. She is doing so much better. She sneezes occasionally, but not the constant cough/sneeze like before. She is eating well and tries to talk to me when I come home, but just gets out a high pitched sound and quits( kind of like someone with laryngitis can't talk). I'm sure she is going to make it. It's been 21/2 weeks now since she first sounded sick.

The other 5 are sounding kind of wheezy. One sounds pretty "froggy". It just killed me to put 2 of my BCM hens in there. I see small black spots on combs, but don't know if it is just peck marks. I don't have any roosters running with them. My sick girl in the house has a few spots on her comb. Three of the 5 sick ones were either broody or had just raised chicks. Maybe their immune system is weakened?

I ordered some Avian Pox vaccine. It got here today. I haven't heard back from the vet. Does anyone  know how long it takes labs to get your results?
I am a hesitant to use the vaccine, but it this is what it is, I want to try to halt it before it gets too far. If my hens have been exposed but are not yet showing symptoms and I give them a vaccine what will happen? Also, if I vaccinate a chicken that has been exposed and use the vaccinator tool on another am I spreading the virus?

How long are the able to spread the virus after being exposed and getting sick?

Kunttrygirl, I am glad your birds made it! I don't see how there is any way possible I could do that for all my birds if they get sick. I leave at 7am to go to work and get home around 6pm.Thank you for the tips. I am giving my sick girl chick starter so it is easier to eat.

Click to expand...

I hope they all pull thru.

Yes, it was very hard on me to do that. Having a full time job and leaving out at 7am every morning and getting home at 5:30am and having to care for 300+ animals every day, made it almost impossible. I'm not sure if I can do it again.

Please keep us updated.