Avian Pox that might have become infected?

[wendy3k]

One of my roosters developed a black spot on his neck by his head, and on the other side of his face, just in front of his eye. The skin around them looked like it ended at the edge of the black area, i.e. it rolled at the edge. They both swelled up, but the one on his neck is now the size of a ping pong ball, and the one by his eye swells from the beak back to include his eye.

At about the same time another rooster died. He had the same black spot errupting thru the skin, but on his belly. Then a hen died and had the black erruption on a feather follicle on her wing.

This all started after heavy rains when the chicken run turned to mud. It took a few days for me to get sand to raise the elevation above the rest of the area. We have a nearly flat acre of clay, slow drainage & absorption. The muddiest area was next to the compost where I also add the litter from the coops. So I'm sure they were walking in bad stuff.

Anyhow, once the area was dry, and all the coops had fresh shavings & cider vinegar added to the water, the deaths stopped, but the rooster with the swellings remains. He was running with the flock, eating & drinking fine, but the lumps don't go away. I don't know whether to cull him. He is under weight, & I can't afford a vet for a rooster that may have ended up as dinner anyway. I have him in the bathroom now where I can soak his lumps in warm water with betadine and be sure he's eating enough.

It's so much harder to kill a chicken I've treated for a while than a strong healthy one for dinner. Both are difficult, but eggs WILL hatch out roosters half the time.

 

[wendy3k]

If this helps, the black part is scabby looking.
And, the lump on the rooster's neck is actually larger, like 2 ping pong balls.

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Do you have any pictures???

 

[wendy3k]

Here are 2 pictures. The large swelling in the first picture flops when he runs. It's very firm, not like it's filled with liquid.



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[PAchickenlover]

WOW, I have never seen any thing like this before! I will be following to find out more!

 

[willowbranchfarm]

OH MY!!! Thats very different from what i expected. Can you take her to a vet??

 

[Haunted55]

I'm not saying this didn't start out as Avian Pox, but that is usually found on unfeathered areas. If it was only 1 bird affected this way I would say sure, maybe, but you've had more than one. I would contact your State Vet and ask about this. Their office can help you find out what it might be or point you in the direction you need to go. I'm not an expert by any means but I've seen a lot and studied a lot more. I haven't come across anything like this. I know you can't and don't want to invest a lot of money into this roo. I understand that and agree, but I still think you need to contact someone who can give you an answer as to what this is especialy since it has affected more than one bird with the same or similar symptoms.

Have you tried giving him Duramycin or another antibiotic in their drinking water? Whatever this is, it seems all of your birds have been exposed and if it were me, I'd want to see if this would make any difference. You said you've been using betadine, have the soaks opened this at all? One last thing I can think of to try is Iodex if you can find it or order it from your pharmacy. It's an ointment that has betadine suspended in it and works to draw and kill infection, just like your soaks, but with more strength as it's applied undiluted.

 

[wendy3k]

Thank you all for checking this out. I've bailed for a while because I finally put this guy down & hated it. The inside of the lump was bubbly tissue, like fatty globules. I inspected him more closely and found a few more lumps on his body. Since mostly roosters were affected, and 2 hens with lumps on their back or wing edge, I suspected that transmission was through a scratch from the claw of a rooster, fighting or mounting. One young rooster has ruffled feathers, so I inspected him, and discovered lumps, but these are blister-like, no scab on top. They are about the size of a quarter and seem to be water filled. I haven't decided yet to kill him, especially since no other chickens seem to be affected, but I probably will. I hate doing it, but don't want this to spread. The orpingtons are so sweet!

I looked up chicken sores all over the internet too. Nothing looked like this. Avian pox may look similar, but none of the articles I read mentioned sores as large as my guy had. Once I saw the inside of the lump, it looked like a tumor I saw. Now I have to go back and find that article again. It's been almost 3 years since I started raising chickens, and didn't realize how lucky I was to have the first 2 years disease free. I couldn't understand the books saying to expect mortality rates around 10%. I hadn't lost any, except to a dog I fostered from the local animal shelter. So now, I'm getting a real education.

 

[Haunted55]

Thank you all for checking this out. I've bailed for a while because I finally put this guy down & hated it. The inside of the lump was bubbly tissue, like fatty globules. I inspected him more closely and found a few more lumps on his body. Since mostly roosters were affected, and 2 hens with lumps on their back or wing edge, I suspected that transmission was through a scratch from the claw of a rooster, fighting or mounting. One young rooster has ruffled feathers, so I inspected him, and discovered lumps, but these are blister-like, no scab on top. They are about the size of a quarter and seem to be water filled. I haven't decided yet to kill him, especially since no other chickens seem to be affected, but I probably will. I hate doing it, but don't want this to spread. The orpingtons are so sweet!

I looked up chicken sores all over the internet too. Nothing looked like this. Avian pox may look similar, but none of the articles I read mentioned sores as large as my guy had. Once I saw the inside of the lump, it looked like a tumor I saw. Now I have to go back and find that article again. It's been almost 3 years since I started raising chickens, and didn't realize how lucky I was to have the first 2 years disease free. I couldn't understand the books saying to expect mortality rates around 10%. I hadn't lost any, except to a dog I fostered from the local animal shelter. So now, I'm getting a real education.

I hate to have to say this but this doesn't sound like Fowl Pox to me. The dry form of Fowl Pox heals up in about a week or so. They look like scabby sores at the end of the healing process, not like tumors. If you can, take this last roo and have him necropsied please. Keep him going until you can make all of the arangements and then cull and ship immediately. I have a very bad feeling you are dealing with something much worse than Fowl Pox.