Avian Pox

[Annie Smith]

Would like to hear from someone who has dealt with Avian Pox. What did you do & how successful was the treatment?

 

[mypicklebird]

Wet or dry? Avian pox incorporates many strains, some of which are more mild, some of which are more severe.
Dry pox- there is no meaningful treatment beyond 'tincture of time'. Wet and dry are both caused by the same type of virus- just various strains. Most of the time chickens only get the dry form, and you just have to wait it out. It is basically a cosmetic problem. Though it can also be severe and make it hard for them to see/hear well. Foot lesions can be painful.
Wet pox, there may be fatalities- mostly due to the plaques causing blockage of the respiratory or upper GI tract- basically they can't eat or breath well. Sometimes the plaques can be debrided if they are reachable.
Vaccines are available- which work well. Prevention is impossible in free ranging birds- as it is spread usually by biting insect (mosquitos ect), but it can also be transmitted by fomites (things- hands, tools ect).
There are many things that can cause lesions that look like wet pox, the dry pox is pretty easy to diagnose based on what the bumps look like.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

There are two types of pox, wet and dry. Dry pox which is the raised black bumps on the head which most people just leave alone and they go away on their own. You can put povidone-iodine on them to help dry them out. Seperate out any birds that have them to slow the spread thru the flock. Wet pox is a whole different story. It gets into their mouth and wind pipe and can suffocate them. Not a lot you can do about it. Some people try to put Povidone-Iodine on the lesions and some times it works. Dry pox is usually not fatal, wet pox is.

 

[elmo]

I think two of my bantams are showing signs of fowl pox right now; both have a couple of small black lesions on their combs. Otherwise, they seem fine, so I'm just watching them.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Yes, I've seen that recommendation but I've been wondering whether it's worth the trouble ...at least for dry pox. As I understand it, the virus is spread by mosquitoes, too, so unless you keep your chickens inside mosquito netting, they're pretty likely to get it at some time or another. I can't remember another year here when the mosquito population was worse: I used DEET spray and still got dozens of bites whenever I was outside this summer, even through clothing, too.

One thing that does concern me is whether the chickens will peck at the scabs on other chickens, making things worse. That would certainly change my mind about isolating the affected birds.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Wet pox is not a different strain of virus. It is a different LOCATION of infection. Any of the strains can cause wet or dry pox. The danger with wet pox is that the lesions block the birds ability to eat or breathe. If you can remove the internal lesions, or at least prevent them from blocking air/food/water access the bird will recover. Listerine works well on clearing out the internal lesions. The original icky-tasting kind.

Yes, pecking at the scabs can cause secondary infections, a reason to dry them up. Some say to use neosporin on htem, and it does help prevent secondary bacterial infections, but does nothing for secondary fungal or viral infections. Iodine does have anti-fungal and anti-viral activity as well as antibiotic activity. You can also mix the two together, as I did.

Spraying the coops and all areas where mosquitoes congregate with a pesticide that will kill mosquitoes, removing standing water or using Mosquito Dunks when standing water cannot be removed and nightly spraying the coops and birds with a mosquito repellant will be very helpful.

 

[RAREROO]

I had it one time mainly in some young turkeys and a light case in the chicks, for the turkeys, I would put iodine on the leasions and I bought a vaccine from Strombergs to vacinate the rest of the flock. Most all of them survived it but it did stunt the growth of some of them.