Fowl Pox

[aandemom]

Well, my girls are poxed! I have 7 and only one is not showing signs of this dreadful illness. Everyone seems to be doing just fine, eating, running around, drinking water, etc. However, one seems to be, for lack of a better word, hoarse. Could it be that she has contracted the wet form of the pox? As I said they ALL seems fine and even the hoarse one runs around like nothing is wrong with her but I am worried. Can anyone give me some insight?

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Wet pox can be bad. It causes lesion in the mouth that could make it hard for them to breath.
Dry pox symptoms are bumps all over chickens faces and some possibly in mouth that could block the air way. Also weakness and laboured breathing.

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

Here is a link with some further information. It looks like the tell tale sign of wet pox might be the cheese-like areas in the mouth, but I'm not sure this is always present. Hopefully someone with more experience will come along but I hope this helps in the meantime. BTW, are you sure you are dealing with fowl pox and not just pecking issues? Maybe you could post pictures of your girls' combs and see what others on here think. http://www.avianweb.com/fowlpox.html

Edited to say, welcome to BYC!

 

[FarmGirl01]

I had the "Dry Form" run thru my place. When I noticed what was going on, I ordered some vaccine. I vaccinated all the birds that were not showing outward signs of the pox. I had about 10 that looked very bad. Lesions all over the combs and wattles and eyes swollen. None of the birds died from this and all have fully recovered. Also none of the vaccinated birds developed the pox. Now the wet form is a different matter, but there is alot of good articles and advice to read. Good luck.

 

[aandemom]

It's definitely pox. All but one has black crusty bumps on their combs and wattles. The one that I'm concerned about seems to be doing fine. There are no signs of any distress. She's was out this afternoon with her sisters running around the yard and eating grass. I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on her.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I bet she will be fine.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Well, my girls are poxed! I have 7 and only one is not showing signs of this dreadful illness. Everyone seems to be doing just fine, eating, running around, drinking water, etc. However, one seems to be, for lack of a better word, hoarse. Could it be that she has contracted the wet form of the pox? As I said they ALL seems fine and even the hoarse one runs around like nothing is wrong with her but I am worried. Can anyone give me some insight?

Most probably, this is the dry form of fowlpox, and looks far worse than it really is, save for the risks of secondary infection.
Although there is nothing you can do about the virus w/in the birds? You can do things to lessen the additional risks, and to ease their symptoms.

Clean and disinfect their equipment, and do what you can to reduce the numbers of bacteria.

Giving them Apple Cider Vinegar, at the rate of four teaspoons to the gallon (but never in galvanized metal containers) will help them to expel the mucus, and 'cuts through' the coatings w/in the mouth, throat and intestines, improving uptake of vitamins/nutrients, and any medicine(s) that you may have to later give, and boosts their immune systems.

You can also give them aspirin, by dissolving five 5 grain aspirins into each gallon of water.

I feel for ya ...

 

[aandemom]

I did give them a dose of Sulmet (3 days) on the advice of my contact at the feed store where we purchase the food and I have also been giving them a vitamin/mineral supplement. I'll have to add in the vinegar. Every little bit helps. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[dawg53]

Sorry, the advice you received from the feed store was incorrect concerning sulmet. Sulmet wont do anything for fowl pox. Fowl pox goes away on its own after about a month, give or take a couple of weeks. You're better off with the vitamin supplement and ACV.

 

[flgardengirl]

You can wet the food down a little for the chicken that has wet pox. I had an Ameraucana roo that got wet pox and was having trouble eating so I put his food in the blender to crush it up and put a little warm water in it. Boy he really scarfed that down he was so hungry and was having trouble eating the pellets. He actually did really well after and recovered completely without sequelae.
It goes through here in NE FL every fall when the mosquitoes go into the coops for warmth once the nights start cooling down. Its like clockwork. It doesn't do any good to try and control mosquitoes here because there is water everywhere: ditches, retention ponds, rivers etc.
We usually only get the dry form of the pox and it is usually very mild. Once they get it they should be immune and are not carriers.