Help? Sores on Neck and Face???

[hollymh]

My 7wk olds have sores on thier little faces and necks, it appears to only be on my two turkens what could this be? I looked every where online and found nothing. Please advise? I will post pics in about 10mins, I have to go out and get them.


Thanks
I feel really awful because I noticed skin colored bumps about 5 days ago and then today they look like this, he appered fine when I checked him yesterday so I'm at a loss, he is acting fine, eating and drinking and the others appear well too. Any advice or treatments?

 

[threehorses]

First, they could be irritated as their new feathers come in. Mine will often excessively groom as their "pinfeathers" (the new feathers in their casings) come in.

However, I would thoroughly check your babies for any other signs of lice or mites, including the bugs themselves. They're nearly microscopic, so check each of your babies very thoroughly - particularly under the feathers in warm moist spots. Look for any little white clusters of "stuff" which could be lice eggs.

To catch mites, you'll have to go to the coop at night and check then. Turn the coop light on, but then use a flashlight to see better as you check under their feathers. Also check in the cracks of the wood for mite eggs as that's where they lay their eggs when they're off the birds.

If you find either, treat the birds with a **permethrin** dust. Not pyrethrin or Sevin dust (carbaryl). You can find it at feedstores and TSC stores labeled as "poultry dust" or "garden and poultry dust" or "livestock lice dust". Just read the active ingredient to make sure it's PERmethrin.

If you have lice, you can treat the birds, nest boxes, and bedding. If you have mites you treat all of the above but must also treat the wood, eyes in the wood, joints, and on the walls up to 3' high on the walls. For those applications, the 10% permethrin spray, Ectiban EC, or a permethrin goat lice spray is great to spray on the walls (while the chickens are outside). It's easier than making a paint out of mineral oil or water and the permethrin dust, though you can certainly do that too.

For bedding, scrape the bedding aside - dust the floor - replace bedding - dust the bedding, stir in well. For runs, dust on the ground, rake in. etc.

Also at that age they tend to pick at one another a lot. Make sure they all have plenty of space, get a good age-appropriate starter or actually a grower now, with a good protein level. I don't feed anything under 20% to my babies that age.

I hope this helps.

What breed are they?

 

[hollymh]

Quote:
Will do, I'm going out to check now. Thank you

 

[hollymh]

Ok, so I checked everyone and I'm pretty sure it is Avian pox. So what now, just wait it out or should I go ahead and vaccinate everyone?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
You can if you wish, or not. I know some experienced chicken handlers do, though I am not sure why. I did not.

You probably already know that the litertaure says there is no treatment. It will run its course, then the lesions simply go away, and at that point the literature says they are immune for life.

However, occasionally one of these external lesions will get infected, a secondary bacterial infection. So,when mine got it, I put a little Betadine or Neosporin on each lesion. I used Neosporin on the ones nearest the eye as it will not hurt or harm the bird if some gets in the eye.

You also probably already know that all this refers to the dry form, and if one should get the wet form, that is more serious. I recently read on here a recommendation to use some Listerine on a Q tip on wet lesions (these will be inside the mouth or throat.) I have no experience with this.

Most likely, you will simply notice one day the lesions are gone. I only applied the Betadine and Neosporin once because by the time I read this would be a good idea, it had nearly run its course. I did have one of the group who looked like she might be getting some secondary infection in her face.

 

[hollymh]

Quote:
You can if you wish, or not. I know some experienced chicken handlers do, though I am not sure why. I did not.

You probably already know that the litertaure says there is no treatment. It will run its course, then the lesions simply go away, and at that point the literature says they are immune for life.

However, occasionally one of these external lesions will get infected, a secondary bacterial infection. So,when mine got it, I put a little Betadine or Neosporin on each lesion. I used Neosporin on the ones nearest the eye as it will not hurt or harm the bird if some gets in the eye.

You also probably already know that all this refers to the dry form, and if one should get the wet form, that is more serious. I recently read on here a recommendation to use some Listerine on a Q tip on wet lesions (these will be inside the mouth or throat.) I have no experience with this.

Most likely, you will simply notice one day the lesions are gone. I only applied the Betadine and Neosporin once because by the time I read this would be a good idea, it had nearly run its course. I did have one of the group who looked like she might be getting some secondary infection in her face.

Ah, thank you I think I will let it run its course. I did plan on treating the sores, the little guy in the pic has it pretty bad and everyone else is pretty much lesion free with the exception of my other turken. Well thanks for your help, I was feeling pretty down thinking I had falied to care for them when I researched and determined there wasn't much I could do to prevent it from happenning. I did give them some soft mash, boiled egg and vitiman water to boost thier health so hopefully that helps.

 

[threehorses]

Your turken will probably get it worse than the others because he has so much unfeathered area.

I hadn't said anything til now because you've gotten great advice. Just wanted to add how great the advice was.

Just be sure to watch for any that seem more lethargic than others. Pox usually comes in either dry form OR wet form, but sometimes you can get the wet form, too. If you see any birds that look quite lethargic, be sure to open their mouth and look for the cheesy plates of exudate inside their throat. If you get that, update THIS thread so those of us watching can help you out.

Otherwise, vitamin A and E will help in healing this in a supportive manner. It's possible that a little tumeric can too as it's said to be helpful with virus issues. Who knows if it is, but if you have some in your kitchen spice cabinet it wouldn't hurt to sprinkle some on a couple of times a week. For vitamin A and E, either a good overall poultry vitamin/mineral package (since this is just supportive treatment this is fine), or misting fortified wheat germ oil onto their food would provide both. (I like the travel sized misting bottle for that).

Keep dotting those scabs. In 4 weeks, they'll turn a little different color and look a little more loose on their edges. Then they'll start to fall off.

MY turkeys this year had it SO bad that I thought that maybe I had misdiagnosed and that they had some chicken form of the plague!! Every bump on their wattles was covered with a big brown scab that was pocked. One day I went out and all their heads were bright pink! The scabs had dropped overnight.

Unfortunately, the scabs are a vector of pox, each one containing a bit of the virus and it does stay active in them for a while. But since this was such a very bad year for it (no sick birds, but very bad lesions) I'm going to be vaccinating all babies upcoming from now on - ESPECIALLY anything that has a naked neck!

Good luck to you!

 

[Judy]

**chuckle**

Threehorses is the one who advised me!!!

She gave you lots more info than I did, anyway.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Ohhh hey, how did all the pox turn out by the way? You know I have another rooster here with it? /cry He was one of the ones in quarantine. Came out of quarantine, and bam- pox. Figures.

Next year - vaccinating. Never going through this again!

Actually I should just bite the bullet and order vaccine now as I have three in quarantine, new birds.

 

[Judy]

A few days after that thread, all the lesions disappeared, as you predicted, though I had doubted it because they had started at different times.

Theoretically, we are through, no point in vaccinating now.... Since you are planning to do so, I am guessing they really don't have lifelong immunity?