HELP!!! QUICK!! CHICKENS WITH SORES ON FACES!!!!

[ChickyChickens]

Today i was noticed that one of my chicks has funny sores on it's face!! The young chicks always get it but never ever bad!! The adult birds also never get!! It's only on the face!! Can somebody please help me!!!
Here are the pics!!


On the left side!!


The front!!


The comb!


Im keeping her away from the others so that it doesnt spread is it is a spreading disease!!!

 

[chooks4life]

I'd look up fowl pox if I were you. Just to cover all bases really, but to be honest that almost looks like... Well, a few potential things. A series of bites/stings? Tumors? Herpesvirus of some kind?

It's not the most usual presentation of fowl pox (those lumps on the neck in particular are odd) but that said it's probably most likely that fowl pox is the diagnosis. If it's 'dry' fowl pox now, but turns 'wet', then it's often fatal. It may already be turned.

Fowl pox is indeed contagious. Sounds like it's already present in your flock anyway.

I'd be giving that bird freshly minced raw garlic, possibly mixed in with hard boiled egg or plain greek style yoghurt, but as well as that you may want to look into other treatments for it.

Best wishes.

 

[ChickyChickens]

I'd look up fowl pox if I were you. Just to cover all bases really, but to be honest that almost looks like... Well, a few potential things. A series of bites/stings? Tumors? Herpesvirus of some kind?

It's not the most usual presentation of fowl pox (those lumps on the neck in particular are odd) but that said it's probably most likely that fowl pox is the diagnosis. If it's 'dry' fowl pox now, but turns 'wet', then it's often fatal. It may already be turned.

Fowl pox is indeed contagious. Sounds like it's already present in your flock anyway.

I'd be giving that bird freshly minced raw garlic, possibly mixed in with hard boiled egg or plain greek style yoghurt, but as well as that you may want to look into other treatments for it.

Best wishes.

Ok thanks!!!!!

 

[ChickyChickens]

Ok thanks!!!!!

What do you mean by other treatments??

 

[KYTinpusher]

Awww, I'm so sorry for your girl!

That looks painful!

I found this very informative for alternative treatments: http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/assoc...alth Problems of the Organic Laying Flock.pdf

How are the dynamics of your flock? Could someone be picking on her? Once they draw blood, chickens can be REALLY mean! It may or may not be fowl pox, but if it were me, I would treat as if it was. Fowl pox spores can last for many months in the environment. Clean their area thoroughly, using Oxine if you can. Once all the sores are healed, if you can move your flock to a new area that is not infected with the spores, that may help keep new birds from becoming infected. I believe, the ones that have had it should be immune now, but you should look that up to be sure.

Good luck!

 

[ChickyChickens]

Awww, I'm so sorry for your girl!

That looks painful!

I found this very informative for alternative treatments: http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/assoc...alth Problems of the Organic Laying Flock.pdf

How are the dynamics of your flock? Could someone be picking on her? Once they draw blood, chickens can be REALLY mean! It may or may not be fowl pox, but if it were me, I would treat as if it was. Fowl pox spores can last for many months in the environment. Clean their area thoroughly, using Oxine if you can. Once all the sores are healed, if you can move your flock to a new area that is not infected with the spores, that may help keep new birds from becoming infected. I believe, the ones that have had it should be immune now, but you should look that up to be sure.

Good luck!

Yeah, it is slowing down now!! I just wanted to know because this was a very sore looking one on this poor girl! Anyway I cant move them cause I free range them in my whole yard!!!
Hopefully the immune ones will make immune chicks??!!

 

[chooks4life]

What do you mean by other treatments??

Well, I only use natural therapies so don't know offhand what others use, but I expect things like artificial antibiotics, and KYTinpusher seems to have some plans for how to treat it.

Yeah, it is slowing down now!! I just wanted to know because this was a very sore looking one on this poor girl! Anyway I cant move them cause I free range them in my whole yard!!!
Hopefully the immune ones will make immune chicks??!!

I do breed for resistance but have only ever had one case of a bird with dry fowl pox, and no cases of wet fowl pox.

In this case it was a female turkey I was given, with her head and neck covered by the typical dry fowl pox symptoms. She also had that inbred neck spasm so I never bred her, but anyway, once I put her onto the normal diet all my chooks/turkeys etc have, she cleared up and none of the others ever showed any symptoms. The diet includes raw garlic.

I would think you can breed for resistance with pretty much anything, although some things would take some very unusual physiology to combat... But, if your chick here has it worse than the others ever had, there's a chance you're breeding away from resistance instead. Genetically susceptible individuals may survive to breed but aren't too likely to actually produce resistant offspring. I personally would not breed that chick. It's possible though that something else was wrong, and the fowl pox, if that's what it is, capitalized on the lowered immune defenses.

Best wishes.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Well, I only use natural therapies so don't know offhand what others use, but I expect things like artificial antibiotics, and KYTinpusher seems to have some plans for how to treat it.


I do breed for resistance but have only ever had one case of a bird with dry fowl pox, and no cases of wet fowl pox.

In this case it was a female turkey I was given, with her head and neck covered by the typical dry fowl pox symptoms. She also had that inbred neck spasm so I never bred her, but anyway, once I put her onto the normal diet all my chooks/turkeys etc have, she cleared up and none of the others ever showed any symptoms. The diet includes raw garlic.

I would think you can breed for resistance with pretty much anything, although some things would take some very unusual physiology to combat... But, if your chick here has it worse than the others ever had, there's a chance you're breeding away from resistance instead. Genetically susceptible individuals may survive to breed but aren't too likely to actually produce resistant offspring. I personally would not breed that chick. It's possible though that something else was wrong, and the fowl pox, if that's what it is, capitalized on the lowered immune defenses.

Best wishes.

Yeah, but like some chicks (chicks were the mother and father had fowl pox) don't get it so I am definitely getting resistance! That chicks mother I bought, she wasn't raised here! All my other chickens have been raised her!
I hope it all gets better too!!

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, but like some chicks (chicks were the mother and father had fowl pox) don't get it so I am definitely getting resistance! That chicks mother I bought, she wasn't raised here! All my other chickens have been raised her!
I hope it all gets better too!!

It pays to remember that breeding for resistance takes quite a few generations; you will be hatching extremely susceptible birds right alongside totally resistant birds, at least going by my experience.

Not to mention all the 'good-weather' birds, that could pass as being resistant when they're actually susceptible, just because they're not quite as susceptible as the obviously very susceptible ones, so unless they receive a strong dose of exposure they might end up being accorded a breeding status they didn't deserve. They're good, as long as the weather is good, so to speak.

I bred for resistance to Blackhead in turkeys, and it worked very well, within the general rule of thumb 7 generations, but I did hatch possibly the most susceptible bird I've ever had as a full sibling to the most resistant birds I've ever had. And so it goes. You just don't breed the more susceptible ones, and then you're on your way.

Also, with diseases that remain in the environment or have the soil as the main vector of infection rather than the flock itself, especially those that fluctuate in virulence in response to conditions, you need to be aware of fluctuating exposure levels. Is that one bird sick because it's susceptible, or because it just received a larger dose?

While breeding for Histomoniasis (blackhead) resistance I made sure to subject them to the most exposure possible. Could be harder to do with fowl pox.

Anyway, good luck and best wishes.

 

[cafarmgirl]

May be something else but I'd really suspect it's fowl pox. It is spread mostly by mosquitos, once birds get it they develop immunity to it, that's why your young birds have it and the older ones don't. You really don't need to do anything, it will clear up on it's own. Some people put a little iodine on particularly nasty looking pox to help them dry up.