Fowl Pox?! Severe Pecking?! Help!

[MamaHenKodman]

So mosquitos HAVE been a serious problem as we live by the river. But this is my first flock! Help!! What does this seem to be? All 11 have it, this one seems to be the most severe! Tips for treatment?! I’m lost! Thank you experts/experienced chicken owners!

 

[All4Eggz]

All I can say is that your hens are gorgeous ?
When it comes to treating fowl pox, I'm not sure. I'll tag a few experts:
@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive.

Good luck

p.s. If you have a chance, could you snap a few more photos of your flock! I would love to see more! They are beautiful

 

[MamaHenKodman]

All I can say is that your hens are gorgeous ?
When it comes to treating fowl pox, I'm not sure. I'll tag a few experts:
@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive.

Good luck

p.s. If you have a chance, could you snap a few more photos of your flock! I would love to see more! They are beautiful

Thank you so much!! I’d love to share more pictures!! I just realized I haven’t really taken many the past several weeks…I need to get them ready for another photo op lol I’ll attach some more soon!

 

[Eggcessive]

It does look like some fowl pox, the dry form. The beak sometimes can get injured by poking through fencing, but the scabbing looks the same color as the other scabs. Fowl pox is a limited disease mostly spread by mosquitoes that lasts around 3-4 weeks. The scabs are contagious and can fall off and continue to spread the virus if the powder is inhaled. Chickens who get pox this year should be immune to it in the future. There is a more serious wet or diphtheria type pox that makes yellow plaques or material inside the beak and throat, but it affects fewer chickens. In areas where pox is very severe, such as warm tropical areas, there is a vaccine that can be given before exposure. Here is some reading:
http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/fowl-pox-backyard-flocks

 

[MamaHenKodman]

Thank you. It seems that ALL of our babies have it to some degree, some much more severe than others maybe that’s a good thing that they all get it at once…as for adding more babies in the future. I suppose vaccines would be recommended??

 

[HighlandRogue]

Ok so now I'm sure. My flock has the pox. I first noticed it on my roos comb. They are all eating and drinking. Everyone seems happy. They are in their 10 week molt so I'm especially worried all the time (first flock) and now more so. Really don't want to screw up... Thanks!

 

[MamaHenKodman]

Ughhh I’m so sorry!! I will keep everyone updated. Our girls seem happy/eating/drinking as well… I’ll update with how it all goes!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

as soon as I read "mosquitoes" and glanced at the photos, I was thinking "I know this" (about the only thing re: poultry disease I do know, after a brief scare last year). Then I saw @Eggcessive has beaten me to it, and with far greater expertise and authority than I possess.

No, dry pox is "fortunate", in that its rarely fatal. Palliative care is all that's normally recommended - if your chicks are eating and drinking relatively normally, you just wait this out. Normally no need to consider vaccines (there are numerous varieties of fowl pox out there, no vaccine is effective against all of them - in that regard, its sort of like the human "flu"). Your birds will be immune to this strain for the rest of their life.

If you live near a static water source, such that mosquitoes are a regular occurance, and plan to either breed your own, or routinely raise from hatchlings, I'd simply accept that you will go thru periods of this, and nature will cull the weakest birds from your flock. Its rare, but it sometimes happens.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I have fowl pox in my flock now, first time dealing with this. But I am a firm believer in natural selection, so in about a month I should have a bullet proof flock lol.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have fowl pox in my flock now, first time dealing with this. But I am a firm believer in natural selection, so in about a month I should have a bullet proof flock lol.

There is a turkey pox and quail pox as well as fowl pox. I believe they are considered different strains in some reading I have done.