fowel pox

[snowflake]

trying to down load a pic but not working right now......possible pox dry, lg. scab on hens ear lobe, ...I have ordered vaccine need to know if any one has delt with this, do you separate possible cases or not, she has had this scab for at least a month so they have all been exposed,,,,,,,, don't know what this is, some of her sisters have had rough skin on legs, pink streaks going up so I treated with penicillin thinking it is an infection. ear lobe is also swollen,

 

[dawg53]

Fowl pox is a virus usually transmitted by mosquitos. It normally takes about 3-4 weeks for fowl pox to clear up on its own. Birds are then immune to that particular strain. Since fowl pox is a virus, this means that antibiotics are useless unless there's a secondary infection such as a scratch that becomes infected. Fowl pox can infect the legs, but you might be dealing with scaly leg mites by your description. If it's scaly leg mites, I recommend using Nu-Stock...slather it on their legs. Others use vaseline or vegetable oil etc...to smother the mites over a longer period of time. Pink streaks are usually normal unless you're dealing with bumblefoot and the staph infection has infiltrated the legbone working its way up into the chickens system, death ensues if this is the case. The way to tell if a bird has bumblefoot is to look on the bottom of the chickens feet for a round, dark in color scab. If you see one, minor surgery will be required. You can type "bumblefoot" in the BYC search box and read through the many posts regarding how to treat it, and the surgery as well.

 

[snowflake]

thank you dawg, if fowl pox heals in 3or4 weeks this is not what they have as it has been more then 4 weeks since I first noticed I smothered the legs with petrocarb a heavy petroleum jelly type ointment. there are no scabs on the bottom of the feet just a rough almost like psoriasis like skin a little swollen and pink not a good pic, the best I could get. the hen with the scab on the ear lobe is swollen with a rather large scab about the size of my pinky nail,.... a real puzzle
also it has been a dry summer here and we have not had a lot of mosquitos although I suppose it only takes one,