Help! Wet strain of fowl pox! (Respiratory illness)

[BinaryChicken]

A day ago one of my chicks died due to a wet strain of fowl pox, the fowl pox has been going around my coop for the last month but this was the first death/wet strain. Now a Bantam Brahma hen might have it. The areas around her eye are swollen and she is not acting happy. Is this a wet strain of fowl pox again? If so, what can I do to help my hen?

 

[Eggcessive]

Wet pox is a devastating disease. Can you post a picture of the eye? Treating with Baytril or the strongest antibiotics you can get may or may not help since it is a virus: Here is a recent thread about wet pox with rather gruesome pictures: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...x-xxx-rated-graphic-pictures-of-pus-and-scabs

 

[math ace]

Once you have identified Fowl Pox, you want to treat the entire flock.
Start them on antibotics - ASAP... Tractor Supply sells Tylon 50 and Duramycin
I used Duramycin in the waterers because my birds were still drinking. I also gave Tylon 50 straight down their throats.
YES, I doubled up on the antibiotics.

They come off the Tylon 50 first. Dosage 1/4 cc for pullets, 1/2 cc for grown birds. Given 1 time a day for 5 to 7 days.
I don't have the dosage for the duramycin in front of me. You can use tetroxy HCA 280 (oxytetracycline HC) instead. It is similar to the duramycin. It just depends on which product the feed stores are carrying when I need it. The dosage for the oxytrtracycline is 1/4 tsp per gallon of water. It must be made fresh every day. This is a 400 mg strength dosing. Give this antibiotic for 10 to 14 days. NO LONGER Than 14 days, is what my package specifies.

You will need to treat the eyes with Neosporin triple antibiotic - WITHOUT the pain reliever! Treat each eye twice a day. This will help the bird not go blind...

PRACTICE HYGIENE PRECAUTIONS. If you have a lot of pens of birds, feed, treat, and handle the sick pen of birds LAST.
WASH your hands and change your clothes as soon as you are done handling the birds. If you use a q-tip to apply the Neosporin, do not double dip. One q-tip per bird per eye. THROW away the qtips, don't leave them laying around. Your goal is to keep it contained to the one group of birds.

You can NOT administer the fowl pox vaccine to birds that are already infected!
You can vaccinate birds in adjacent pens if there are no signs of infection yet.
Because you have an active outbreak, the healthy birds will be give the chick pox vaccine and then revaccinated with the mature fowl pox vaccine. If you need vaccine, you can get it from Jeffers Supply - Livestock section OR first state vet supply at
http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/ The advantage to first state vet is that the guy who runs it is an ex vet and knows what he is talking about. He can help you understand what and how to administer the vaccine.

Here is a good link for Fowl Pox.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
The article is correct in that there is NO treatment for Fowl Pox. The antibiotics are for the secondary infections that result from the wet pox. The secondary infections are what will kill the birds.

Your birds are contagious while they are coughing, sneezing, eyes running, OR have scabs. The scabs will spread the virus too. So you don't want the healthy birds in the sick birds area for a while...

Good Luck.. Been There and done this about this time of year a few years ago. I lost the first bird through ignorance of the disease. The second bird went to the vet. It was BAD at my location. My birds had the WET and DRY pox at the same time. I did not lose any more birds once everyone was started on the above treatment. The key with wet pox is getting those antibiotics started to head off the secondary infections.

 

[BinaryChicken]

Hmm, well a couple of my birds had dry pox but it went away. The Brahma hen had a little dry pox, but now the area around her eye seems to be swollen. None of the other 30 or so chickens in the same coop as her seem to have anything. I will post pics this afternoon.

 

[casportpony]

Hmm, well a couple of my birds had dry pox but it went away. The Brahma hen had a little dry pox, but now the area around her eye seems to be swollen. None of the other 30 or so chickens in the same coop as her seem to have anything. I will post pics this afternoon.

Weigh her on a kitchen scale in grams and if she starts losing weight you'll need to think about ways to correct that. Wet pox alone won't kill them, but starvation and dehydration will.

-Kathy

 

[math ace]

Hmm, well a couple of my birds had dry pox but it went away. The Brahma hen had a little dry pox, but now the area around her eye seems to be swollen. None of the other 30 or so chickens in the same coop as her seem to have anything. I will post pics this afternoon.

Dry Pox has a very high recovery rate with intervention. However, the wet pox brings in secondary infections, respiratory infections, that make recovery nigh near impossible without antibiotics.

 

[casportpony]

Dry Pox has a very high recovery rate with intervention. However, the wet pox brings in secondary infections, respiratory infections, that make recovery nigh near impossible without antibiotics.

I lost two to dry pox, but only because I didn't notice that they weren't eating until it was too late, all other dry pox patients have recovered without medicine. Those that had warts on the eyes had to be tube fed. Almost all of my wet pox patients have made complete recoveries, but all have had to be treated with an antibiotic and/or anti fungal, and of course they had to be tube fed.

-Kathy

 

[kuntrygirl]

Sorry to hear about your bird. Wet Pox is a monster but it can be dealt with and your bird can survive if treated. What does your bird look like?

 

[BinaryChicken]

I will get photos soon. Here is a photo of her from about a year ago. She does seem to be eating fine.

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

Dry Pox has a very high recovery rate with intervention. However, the wet pox brings in secondary infections, respiratory infections, that make recovery nigh near impossible without antibiotics


@ mathace - what do you use to disinfect the quarantine pen after the birds are well ?