Fowl pox in eastern Arkansas?

[Mattsculpt]

Is fowl pox a problem in the eastern Arkansas area?
I asked at the local extension agency, (by message) what diseases are prevalent in the area that I need to vaccinate against and got the message back … “Hatcheries can vaccinate against Marek’s.” Not exactly what I was asking.
I did however request for the chicks to be vaccinated against Marek’s.

But what about fowl pox? I live in mosquito hell. There is a ½ acre pond not more then 300 feet away from my property. There are irrigation ditches in the fields for miles around. Much of the land around is covered in shallow water when it rains.
Mosquitoes are rampant between March and December and anytime it warms up for a couple of days. Poultry are common here also.

So far I’ve read conflicting information about fowl pox.
Its not too bad except for the wet kind, and with care they will recover. Wet fowl pox will kill all of your chickens.
Chickens get the dry kind and recover without any trouble.
The dry kind causes hens to stop laying. It can make them susceptible to other diseases that will kill them.
It stunts the growth of chicks.. it doesn’t cause any long term problems.
You have to vaccinate yearly.. you only vaccinate once (Except for chicks) and they’re immune.
Only vaccinate if you’ve had it in your yard before. Vaccinate before you get it.

Can you see why I’m confused?
I don’t want the birds suffer and die. I don’t want poor egg production. Six to twelve dollars is cheap to prevent that, though the vaccinating process seems complicated.
On the other hand I don’t want to unnecessarily vaccinate for something if it isn’t in the area and then have to revaccinate every year.
Help please?

 

[featherz]

I can't help with your area, but I've had wet and dry pox in my chickens - we have a reasonably bad mosquito problem here, but not as bad as in other areas. The dry pox in my experience goes away fine. None of mine ever stopped laying and it just showed up as a few scabs and then went away in a few weeks.

The wet pox I only saw in one hen - some on byc have had these recover with a lot of care, but after two weeks of nursing her I had to put her down. No one else in the flock got wet pox.

Good thing is once they have had pox, they generally won't get it again.

If I didn't have a big flock, I'd probably try the vaccination, but with 50+ chickens it's a daunting task to me.

Hopefully someone from your area can give you better advice. =)

 

[Mattsculpt]

I can't help with your area, but I've had wet and dry pox in my chickens - we have a reasonably bad mosquito problem here, but not as bad as in other areas. The dry pox in my experience goes away fine. None of mine ever stopped laying and it just showed up as a few scabs and then went away in a few weeks.

The wet pox I only saw in one hen - some on byc have had these recover with a lot of care, but after two weeks of nursing her I had to put her down. No one else in the flock got wet pox.

Good thing is once they have had pox, they generally won't get it again.

If I didn't have a big flock, I'd probably try the vaccination, but with 50+ chickens it's a daunting task to me.

Hopefully someone from your area can give you better advice. =)

Thank you for letting me know about your experence. I'm a bit daunted with the thought of vaccinating the chicks myself though I'll have nowhere near your number.

 

[groundpecker]

Well, it is a personal choice to vaccinate or not. I have lived around cleveland/jefferson counties all my life and have never seen a case of fowl pox in all my years of viewing/owning poultry. There are swarms of mosquitoes here at certain times, but not as thick as the farmlands to the east of here. They got pretty bad for about a month last spring, but no signs of fowl pox in my birds. If you want the piece of mind, you can vaccinate, but i will not until i spot an infection.

Like you have said, there are conflicting arguments about vaccinating for many diseases. It is mostly a personal choice or the disease is present in a flock, makes the choice for them.