Hi all,
I have a flock of around 40 chicks. Half of them are 8 weeks old and the other half 5 weeks old. About 10 days ago, I noticed black scabs on on their beaks, eye lids and legs and learned that it is fowl pox. Immediately separated the affected birds and started giving them broad spectrum antibiotic and complex vitamins in drinking water. Research on the internet showed that this is cutaneous form of fowl pox and mortality should be low. However I have lost 12 chicks so far over the last few days. 8 from the older flock.
This is what happened to most of the died chicks:
1) Become lethargic, standing alone, drooping wings and reduced feed. If I try to catch them or hush them they will run away.
2) About 2 days later they will become even more lethargic. Stop eating at all. Will continuously stand at one position all the time.
3) After another 24 hours, they will then sit continuously. If I pick them up, they will not move and once I put them back they will remain in sitting position as if they have no energy in the legs.
4) The whole body will lye on the floor and the only movement will be breathing. After few hours they die.
To a couple of them I also tried to feed my self regularly for 2 days but they ended up the same way. I dissected one of the dead ones today but all organs inside looked fine and I could not see any "tumors" or unusual stuff. Most of the flocks poop looks normal. The ones who stop eating excrete watery white poop. I guess because of no food.
I feed them a fermented mixture of grains (wheat, millet, rice), cottonseed meal, mustard seed meal and greens (leaves of Brussels sprouts, mint, lettuce etc).
I am not sure why I have such a high mortality rate from cutaneous fowl pox. Is there a secondary disease? Is this normal? I hope I can save the rest of the flock. Please help with your advice. Thanks.
I have a flock of around 40 chicks. Half of them are 8 weeks old and the other half 5 weeks old. About 10 days ago, I noticed black scabs on on their beaks, eye lids and legs and learned that it is fowl pox. Immediately separated the affected birds and started giving them broad spectrum antibiotic and complex vitamins in drinking water. Research on the internet showed that this is cutaneous form of fowl pox and mortality should be low. However I have lost 12 chicks so far over the last few days. 8 from the older flock.
This is what happened to most of the died chicks:
1) Become lethargic, standing alone, drooping wings and reduced feed. If I try to catch them or hush them they will run away.
2) About 2 days later they will become even more lethargic. Stop eating at all. Will continuously stand at one position all the time.
3) After another 24 hours, they will then sit continuously. If I pick them up, they will not move and once I put them back they will remain in sitting position as if they have no energy in the legs.
4) The whole body will lye on the floor and the only movement will be breathing. After few hours they die.
To a couple of them I also tried to feed my self regularly for 2 days but they ended up the same way. I dissected one of the dead ones today but all organs inside looked fine and I could not see any "tumors" or unusual stuff. Most of the flocks poop looks normal. The ones who stop eating excrete watery white poop. I guess because of no food.
I feed them a fermented mixture of grains (wheat, millet, rice), cottonseed meal, mustard seed meal and greens (leaves of Brussels sprouts, mint, lettuce etc).
I am not sure why I have such a high mortality rate from cutaneous fowl pox. Is there a secondary disease? Is this normal? I hope I can save the rest of the flock. Please help with your advice. Thanks.
