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HELP! Is This Fowl Pox? If so, What do I do?

GlicksChicks

Crowing
Apr 11, 2024
2,405
4,808
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Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
On the 3rd of this month, last Wednesday, I noticed one of my hens in broody jail had a swollen face, pictured here:
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At the time, I thought a respiratory issue was to blame because I heard one sneezing, so before I went away for 4 days I put vitamins and VetRX in their water. The hen was in broody jail with 2 other broody hens.

I came home yesterday night and 2 hens had a swollen face with a couple of small scabs. After some research I started to believe it was mosquito bites. My hens had been in the nesting boxes almost nonstop and I have been battling mosquitos for a while and I know they like to hide in there.

Well, this morning I came downstairs to check on them and the two with the swelling had more scabs on their faces and one of them had multiple white bumps, pictured below (pics 1 and 2 are the same hen, she formed the swollen face while I was gone. 3 is the original sick hen):
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Both hens have been eating and drinking like normal, no lethargy. And their poop seems to be normal (I had to clean up alot of it when I got home, they made a MESS). One of them are eating as I am typing this.

What I have done so far is give them the Vitamins (Poly-Vi-Sol), VetRX (When I believed Respiratory problem), I put Vaseline all over their faces this morning, and put ACV into some fresh water.
 
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I gave the hens some scrambled eggs and they ate them just fine. They have not lost their appetite, but I don't know if that completely gets rid of the chance of it being fowl pox.

I have no knowledge of fowl pox, so help will be appreciated.
 
Possible it's Fowl Pox.
Are the 2 together in the same cage? I'd watch that they are picking at one another.

You can paint the scabs/lesions with Iodine to see if that helps dry them up. Careful not to disturb scab to avoid spreading the lesions.

Dry Form of Fowl Pox usually runs its course over several weeks.
When a few of mine have had it, I just left them alone and made sure they ate/drank, which they did. My kept on acting normal, etc.

There are other steps you can take like sanitizing water, vaccinating birds, etc. If you wish to do that, the info is in the link below.


https://the-chicken-chick.com/fowl-pox-prevention-treatmen/
 
Possible it's Fowl Pox.
Are the 2 together in the same cage? I'd watch that they are picking at one another.

You can paint the scabs/lesions with Iodine to see if that helps dry them up. Careful not to disturb scab to avoid spreading the lesions.

Dry Form of Fowl Pox usually runs its course over several weeks.
When a few of mine have had it, I just left them alone and made sure they ate/drank, which they did. My kept on acting normal, etc.

There are other steps you can take like sanitizing water, vaccinating birds, etc. If you wish to do that, the info is in the link below.


https://the-chicken-chick.com/fowl-pox-prevention-treatmen/
The 2 are both together. I watch them alot because I am worried about them, and they seem to ignore eachother for the most part.

I have seen them eat and drink plenty. They act completely normal. If I hadn't noticed the scabs and whie bumps I would be none the wiser to them being sick.

Should I stop adding vaseline to the spots to avoid disturbing the scabs?

I am asuming I should keep them quarantined because it is contagious, yes? How long should I keep them quarantined and how do I know when they have ran their course of fowl pox?

Vaccinations is not something I intend on doing for birds in my mixed flock. If they were expensive or rare birds I most definitely would, but I don't want to put that money into vaccinations, definitely for something that should run it's course. Thank you though!
 
I wouldn't put vaseline on them. Use Iodine to dry the scabs up. Dot or Paint it on.

I've never quarantined any of my birds that had Fowl Pox, they just continued on with their daily flock interactions, I really didn't notice it spreading, but it can be contagious. I've only dealt with Dry Form, but if I ever had Wet Form, then I'd be more inclined to separate them out.
 
I wouldn't put vaseline on them. Use Iodine to dry the scabs up. Dot or Paint it on.

I've never quarantined any of my birds that had Fowl Pox, they just continued on with their daily flock interactions, I really didn't notice it spreading, but it can be contagious. I've only dealt with Dry Form, but if I ever had Wet Form, then I'd be more inclined to separate them out.
I will stop with the vaseline.

What is the difference between Dry and Wet form? Which one do I have?
 

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