francis773
Hatching
- Jul 22, 2020
- 4
- 0
- 6
So I've been battling chicken health issues since early this year. We lost 10 of a total of 20 silkie chickens, which occurred over the course of 6 months. The symptoms varied so significantly from chicken to chicken, that its hard for me to fathom that there may have been a single disease underlying the varied spectrum of symptoms being witnessed. When it all started I suspected the disease vector likely came from wild birds getting in the chicken feed bowls. (I have since made feeders which prevent this from continuing to occur).
In the past 2 months, my most senior bird (male rooster - which also happened to be one of the first birds that started showing signs of illness in early 2020 and has survived) showed symptoms which finally seemed to indicate only 2 possible illnesses. This was somewhat of a relief after being so unclear about what made the birds that didn't make it so sick.
I found a canker like yellow sore in this rooster's throat about 2 months ago, near the back of his throat. His appetite for food remained strong, even though sometimes he would often cough up food, apparently from the sore effecting his ability to eat food. He also had a rattle in his breathing which was intermittent but very easy to hear when it was present. Suspecting canker I treated with Metronizadole (powder mixed in water which I purhcased from jedds birds online). The canker sore did not go away -however during administration I suspected this rooster's medicated water intake was limited either by the taste of the water or pain from the canker like sore in his mouth. In retrospect I wish I would have gone with the pill form instead. Anyhow, so far I have attempted 2 courses of metronizadole with that rooster, for 7 days straight on each course. The rattled breathing has stopped and the appetite and water intake are good and strong. He has been isolated in a private run ever since finding the sore in his mouth. However the canker like sore is still visible in his mouth and has remained about the same size.
During the course of treating that rooster, another rooster in the flock started showing scabs on his skin similar to what has been documented on fowl pox. I then turned my attention on isolating the 2nd sick rooster as well. At this point I soon discovered there was a fowl pox vaccine that I could administer to the remaining birds which weren't showing fowl pox symptoms. I administrated the fowl pox vaccine soon afterwards, with the exception of the 2 sick roosters.
In summary, the 2nd rooster clearly displayed symptoms of dry fowl pox, (with no visible wet form present in its mouth)
I highly suspect now that the 1st rooster has the wet form of the fowl pox and that my initial diagnosis of canker was incorrect.
To date, both roosters are still isolated from the rest of the flock (and seperated from each other too). The 2nd rooster's (dry form) scabs have fallen off and his appetite remains good and strong. The side of his face which had many scabs is slowly healing and getting less inflammed everyday. The 1st rooster with the wet form currently has no remaining symptoms other than the canker sore which is still visible in his mouth. I have been using only poultry booster vitamins on both roosters since diagnosing both with fowl pox, since to my knowledge so far, there are no known treatments for fowl pox.
2 questions:
1. When can I administer the fowl pox vaccine to the 2 roosters that have already caught the virus and displayed symptoms? Is it still recommended to do so or will these roosters remain immune once they have completely recovered?
2. For the one with the remaining wet form canker sore in his throat - is it advised to use iodine on this sore to try to remove it? I've read posts on the forum which suggest this, however I'm hesistant to do so since my research on canker indicated not attempting to remove those sores as excessive bleeding may occur.
Thank you!
In the past 2 months, my most senior bird (male rooster - which also happened to be one of the first birds that started showing signs of illness in early 2020 and has survived) showed symptoms which finally seemed to indicate only 2 possible illnesses. This was somewhat of a relief after being so unclear about what made the birds that didn't make it so sick.
I found a canker like yellow sore in this rooster's throat about 2 months ago, near the back of his throat. His appetite for food remained strong, even though sometimes he would often cough up food, apparently from the sore effecting his ability to eat food. He also had a rattle in his breathing which was intermittent but very easy to hear when it was present. Suspecting canker I treated with Metronizadole (powder mixed in water which I purhcased from jedds birds online). The canker sore did not go away -however during administration I suspected this rooster's medicated water intake was limited either by the taste of the water or pain from the canker like sore in his mouth. In retrospect I wish I would have gone with the pill form instead. Anyhow, so far I have attempted 2 courses of metronizadole with that rooster, for 7 days straight on each course. The rattled breathing has stopped and the appetite and water intake are good and strong. He has been isolated in a private run ever since finding the sore in his mouth. However the canker like sore is still visible in his mouth and has remained about the same size.
During the course of treating that rooster, another rooster in the flock started showing scabs on his skin similar to what has been documented on fowl pox. I then turned my attention on isolating the 2nd sick rooster as well. At this point I soon discovered there was a fowl pox vaccine that I could administer to the remaining birds which weren't showing fowl pox symptoms. I administrated the fowl pox vaccine soon afterwards, with the exception of the 2 sick roosters.
In summary, the 2nd rooster clearly displayed symptoms of dry fowl pox, (with no visible wet form present in its mouth)
I highly suspect now that the 1st rooster has the wet form of the fowl pox and that my initial diagnosis of canker was incorrect.
To date, both roosters are still isolated from the rest of the flock (and seperated from each other too). The 2nd rooster's (dry form) scabs have fallen off and his appetite remains good and strong. The side of his face which had many scabs is slowly healing and getting less inflammed everyday. The 1st rooster with the wet form currently has no remaining symptoms other than the canker sore which is still visible in his mouth. I have been using only poultry booster vitamins on both roosters since diagnosing both with fowl pox, since to my knowledge so far, there are no known treatments for fowl pox.
2 questions:
1. When can I administer the fowl pox vaccine to the 2 roosters that have already caught the virus and displayed symptoms? Is it still recommended to do so or will these roosters remain immune once they have completely recovered?
2. For the one with the remaining wet form canker sore in his throat - is it advised to use iodine on this sore to try to remove it? I've read posts on the forum which suggest this, however I'm hesistant to do so since my research on canker indicated not attempting to remove those sores as excessive bleeding may occur.
Thank you!
