Hens & Roosters - black spots, bump on eye and mangled beak

[Katbiemer]

I need advice on a few different possble issues

1) You’ll see on the big rooster and the white leghorn there are black spots on their combs. These two hatched in early March. Could these spots be from pecking? We do have two of these roosters.

2) the grey bantam hen has a grey bump on her beak and she seems pale. Any suggestions on what it could Be?

3) And the black/brown rooster had been acting miserable and his beak looks awful. I found ants on his beak yesterday morning. I think I saw poultry lice on him on Wednesday evening. I did treat him with DE yesterday 2x and will be cleaning the coop today.

All of our birds hatched in March. We have 13 total.

 

[Baumshell28]

I wish I could help you with the beak issue, but I have no idea what the problem there is. I can tell you that all those bumps, scabs, sores look like the dry fowl pox that 7 or 8 of my twelve hens has right now. I am dealing with it a few different ways...I’m continuing to try to keep them calm & cool in this heat so as not too add to their stress levels. I am spraying their combs, wattles, earlobes or any other featherless skin a couple times daily with Vetericyn spray. I am adding RoosterBooster to their water, I usually make sure that’s in their water every other day anyways in this heat. It’s electrolytes, vitamins, probiotics & prebiotics. I am also adding iodine to their water (see attached article screenshot). As far as the Vetericyn goes, I personally avoided the one packaged for poultry and got the bigger, regular strength bottle. They are expensive, the poultry bottle is smaller, it is a weaker strength (0.010% as
opposed to 0.012%), just seems less cost effective...especially since the stronger concentration is still completely safe for your chickens!
P.S: DE is a controversial remedy all around, so just be careful with over exposure to yourself & your chickens. I DO use it on my dirt coop floor, on the ground in their run and I mix a small amount into their dust bathing area. That said, it can do internal damage, respiratory etc. I would just recommend researching it a bit before putting it all over, Willy nilly...

 

[Pioneer Belle]

One of my Dominique hens has a numb on her beak like your polish chicken. It has been there for a couple months now and hasn’t really caused any problems. It is starting to go down now. As for the rest I have no idea.

 

[Aunt Angus]

DE didn't work for me for lice. I don't think it's useful for treating an infestation. I resorted to permethrin spray, which did the trick immediately.

I think you're right that the black Mark's are either peck marks or dry fowl pox. The peck marks are a normal part of chicken politics. Fowl pox is viral and will go away on its own though you can treat the individual spots with iodine if they are troublesome for the birds. If any of them have cankers in their mouths, you're dealing with wet pox, and that's a different ballgame.

I hff and no clue about the beak issue. Bug I'm wondering if it got injured at some point and healed poorly. Poor fella...