Beauty99
Songster
- May 4, 2018
- 75
- 28
- 111
hey, i have a year old hen she is fine but she just started to have some black spots on her comb, should I worry about? Will it go away on its own? Or it’s a disease? Pic is below
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AgreeIt looks like a mild case of the dry form of Fowl Pox. It’s a virus that’s carried by the common mosquito and it’s easily preventable with the use of a vaccine. You don’t need the vaccine anymore since she’s already been infected. I wouldn’t worry at all since it’s not fatal or debilitating in its dry form; just wait for the warts to fall off and if you have more hens, vaccinate against them virus because birds that get the pox in their internal organs are at a greater risk of death. If a bird has already been infected to the virus, you don’t have to worry about reinfection since they develop an immunity to it.
Thanks for your helpFowl pox is a virus and antibiotics would be ineffective. However if a scab were scratched and became seriously infected, then an antibiotic may be used. With minor scratches, I've used neosporin.
The disease will slowly pass through your flock. Birds may seem irritated which is normal with fowl pox. So it may take a month or two to disappear on its own. Eggs are safe to eat.
The scabs are highly infective. You can put iodine or black shoe polish on the scabs to help dry and shrink them, avoid the eyes at all costs. Scabs eventually drop off onto the ground. If a bird eats one, she will get the wet form of pox which is more serious and dangerous.
The odds are that it wont happen, this is just for your information. A sign would be a bird not eating and having trouble drinking or not drinking at all. Then you'd look inside the birds mouth for telltale lesions.
To enhance protection, eliminate standing water on your property where mosquitos breed; old tires, bird baths, containers etc...