Hello!
It's the middle of summer and mosquitoes are flying about like crazy. So it was not much of a surprise when yesterday I discovered that my chickens appear to have an outbreak of dry fowl pox. Out of the flock of 22, 3 have bumps on their comb and wattles.
I also happen to have a broody on day 3 with her clutch, and while she doesn't appear to be sick, I'm concerned for her chicks. Should I be worried? Most of my flock is young (<30 weeks of age), so I'm hoping their immune systems will be able to fight it off. 3 of my chickens are older and were infected with (dry) fowl pox last year in September. I'm assuming they have immunity now, so I'm not as concerned for them.
But about the broody...
I've also read conflicting information on how quick/slow dry fowl pox spreads. Since I currently only see 3 affected, should I go ahead and separate those now? Would it do any good? And if it does, is the virus serious enough to warrant it? (If it won't affect the newly hatched chicks, then I'm not going to be as concerned and may decide to just leave them be).
I'm going to be running a fan in the evening an through out the night to deter the mosquitoes. Here are some images of two of the affected chickens, a young cockerel and a laying pullet. It's very early stages, but I guess I'm super worried it will worsen & spread. Last year was hard for one of my chickens because it was also very hot. It's warm again this year, so I'm trying my best to keep them cool.
Thanks in advance for feedback!
It's the middle of summer and mosquitoes are flying about like crazy. So it was not much of a surprise when yesterday I discovered that my chickens appear to have an outbreak of dry fowl pox. Out of the flock of 22, 3 have bumps on their comb and wattles.
I also happen to have a broody on day 3 with her clutch, and while she doesn't appear to be sick, I'm concerned for her chicks. Should I be worried? Most of my flock is young (<30 weeks of age), so I'm hoping their immune systems will be able to fight it off. 3 of my chickens are older and were infected with (dry) fowl pox last year in September. I'm assuming they have immunity now, so I'm not as concerned for them.
But about the broody...
I've also read conflicting information on how quick/slow dry fowl pox spreads. Since I currently only see 3 affected, should I go ahead and separate those now? Would it do any good? And if it does, is the virus serious enough to warrant it? (If it won't affect the newly hatched chicks, then I'm not going to be as concerned and may decide to just leave them be).
I'm going to be running a fan in the evening an through out the night to deter the mosquitoes. Here are some images of two of the affected chickens, a young cockerel and a laying pullet. It's very early stages, but I guess I'm super worried it will worsen & spread. Last year was hard for one of my chickens because it was also very hot. It's warm again this year, so I'm trying my best to keep them cool.
Thanks in advance for feedback!