Fowl Pox???

[myachick]

Hi this is my first time having chickens. I thought i was doing everything right until this happen!! I am almost positive its Fowl Pox from what I've read on BYC threads. I have a flock of eight, all of them have it!! I have 2 in quarantine since I think they may have the wet strain of it. What can I do for the 2? The buff orpington has one of her eyes closed shut now (had wet bubbles in the eye) and the salmon favorelle is partial closed due to the scab around her eye (she's in the first pic, I have two SF). I am treating all of them with neosporin for the scabs. What else can I do? Can I vaccinate them after it has run its course?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It does look like fowl pox which is generally transmitted by mosquitoes or direct contact. It will run it's course in about 6 weeks. It will get worse usually before it gets better. I generally leave them alone. I haven't had the wet pox, that's a whole different type of problem.

 

[myachick]

It does look like fowl pox which is generally transmitted by mosquitoes or direct contact. It will run it's course in about 6 weeks. It will get worse usually before it gets better. I generally leave them alone. I haven't had the wet pox, that's a whole different type of problem.

Did you vaccinate after it happen? If not did they get it again?

 

[Eggcessive]

They are usually considered to be immune to the particular strain of fowl pox once they have had it, but any birds that have not yet gotten it or new birds in the future, could be vaccinated. Wet pox is when yellow plaques are found inside the beak and throat, and can go deeper into the esopagus, airway, and crop. Those make it painful to eat, and they can frequently starve. Do not disturb the scabs because that can spread the virus and scabs. Get some Terramycin eye ointment or neosporin eye ointment to apply to the eyes twice a day when there are scabs or bubbles in or near the eyes.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I vaccinated no one. A few of my turkeys have had it. No other of my poultry got it despite being run on the same ground. I have about 60-90 birds of ducks, turkeys and chickens. I haven't had a single chicken get it. I do what I can to minimize mosquitoes and their breeding, if I'm going to see pox it is usually in the fall. I haven't had any turkeys get the pox twice, so I think they build up an immunity to it.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have only seen a single pox scab a couple of times a few years ago in my flock, and I also do not vaccinate for it. But in some heavily infested areas of the south, pox can be rather bad. So many, especially in those hot buggy areas will vaccinate if they have had a few bad cases. I am not a fan of vaccinating for anything normally, but if you see a few bad cases in some of the threads on here, pox can be pretty bad. If young chicks are involved, many do not live through pox.

 

[Hamiam]

I had a flock of hens get Fowl Pox years ago. Because less than 20% of the birds had lesions, I was told to vaccinate the unaffected birds but not the birds with lesions. I never did separate the hens from each other figuring they had already been exposed. After vaccinating, What I found was some of the vaccinated hens still came down with lesions but their cases were not as severe. The original hens that had fowl pox were never vaccinated but all new birds coming onto my property, I made sure to vaccinate. Hope this helps. I know it's difficult.