Fowl pox?

[tsielaff]

Some of our girls seem to have black patches on their combs . I think it may be fowl pox but I am not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated .

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

No that is not fowl pox. That is from aggression from anther bird. They tend to go after others combs and bite or peck at them for various reasons.

Fowl Pox comes in the form of wet or dry pox. The dry version looks like wart/blisters on the comb, face and wattles. The wet form grows lesions in the mouth and esophagus. Fowl Pox is a virus and generally the dry form allows the birds to heal after a few weeks of feeling lousy. The wet form is not so easy to survive and many times they do die.

But what you have here is aggression. Make sure you have plenty of space in the coop and run, 5 square feet in the coop and 10 square feet in the run. Make sure you have a few different places to eat and drink so there is not so much competition, and try to figure out who the bully is. They may need to be separated out for a spell or on a permanent basis.

Good luck with your flock and we are so glad you could join!

 

[Roo Whisperer]

Just joined a few minutes ago and haven't even done the "new introduction" yet, but when I saw the thread on Fowl Pox I had to reply. The Fowl Pox that recently went through my coops started with black, reddened and blood-red patches pretty close to the picture shown. I, too, assumed "fowl play" though I had never seen or heard signs of it with my hens. They get along quite well. A week later the scabs described began to form making a few chickens quite miserable. The others got those same patches before coming down with the Pox.