Is this fowl pox?

[jescee77]

Just noticed this in my chickens today. They do not appear to be acting sick but have these lesion-like bumps all over them. It looks like pictures of fowl pox to me but I am fairly new to raising chickens...so I am not sure? I live in SC and it has been very hot and we do have a large mosquito problem. If it is fowl pox....what do I need to do? Will this kill them?

 

[Vintage Chick]

I realized that I wrote on this thread a year ago when my chickens came down with dry pox. Actually, I think a couple of them had wet pox. We live in the Houston area and have lots of creeks and trees around us, so do we EVER have mosquitoes!!!!

Here's what I've done:

I put a fan in the the coop. This helps keeps the girls cool at night, as well doing quite a decent job of blowing the mosquitoes away.

If pox occurs around the nostrils, I drip VetRx up the nostrils. This also helps if they get pox internally in the throat.

I use a spray of diluted tea tree oil on them. Mosquitoes don't like the scent.

 

[welasharon]

WOW! That is a full blown case for sure. I think it is pox. Poor things. Dry pox you really don't have to do anything...and this looks like that. Some put antibiotic cream or iodine on the spots but I just leave them be. This version here is the least bothersome for them it seems. My oldest had it like this last year and they never seemed to be bothered. This year my new ones had it on their beaks and faces and they looked like big knots and it took a month or more to go away. There were two that had cracks in their beaks after the knots fell off. My mom's hen looks like an alien. Her whole head has warty looking bumps ALL over it and it made her unbalanced and she would stagger. I don't know if it was from the swellings or if it was in her ears too. All of ours was the dry version luckily. Good luck with them.

 

[Judy]

It looks like dry fowl pox. If it suddenly goes away after 3 weeks and they get no lesions next year, it is fowl pox. It is only dangerous if it gets in the mouth and throat (wet pox.) They can of course get a secondary infection, as in the eye, which can cause problems as well. You may want to dab each lesion once with Neosporin or dilute Betadine to revent a secondary infection. there is nothing to be done about the primary lesions as they are viral.

There is a vaccine and I understand it reduces the course of the disease, but in most cases, the disease resolves itself. My flock got it a couple of years ago, I did the Neosporin (near eyes) or Betadine once, and 3 weeks later, it was gone. I haven't seen it since. An infection with it does make them immune to a future outbreak.

Of course I'm not sure that is what it is, but it sure looks like it.

 

[CMV]

That is dry pox. They will be fine in about 3 weeks. It looks worse than it is...REALLY. In a couple days it is going to look a lot worse, so trust me when I say this. You can use straight betadine/iodine on the pox nodules to help dry them up quicker, or you can do nothing at all. Either way, they will heal and leave little visible evidence of their presence behind. The one thing they will leave behind is a partial immunity from pox. That means they can get it again in the future, but it will never be as bad as it is now. So, resign yourself to the fact your birds will look terrible for the next couple weeks. Watch for signs of secondary infections in the sores (nasty, weepy, angry red sores) and signs of wet pox (sores inside the mouth and throat that impede breathing). And hope that the virus passes quickly. Fortunately, it should. The birds will be fine once it is over. It's an ugly nuisance, but rarely more than that.

Good luck.

 

[FlyHigher]

Dry pox can be very dangerous too. In worst cases, it can casue blindness, even death.
So I would like suggest you to do something for this, for yours chicken's good.
I am not a expert or vet, but I have heart that Newcastle disease vaccine can help to prohibit the viral replicating, so it maybe useful.
But I am not sure. I've never handled this.

 

[Chickengal505]

Dry pox can be very dangerous too. In worst cases, it can casue blindness, even death.
So I would like suggest you to do something for this, for yours chicken's good.
I am not a expert or vet, but I have heart that Newcastle disease vaccine can help to prohibit the viral replicating, so it maybe useful.
But I am not sure. I've never handled this.

Yes, Dry pox can be dangerous, but in rare cases. These don't look too bad, so the OP has nothing to worry about. If she follows the advice of the other posters, all of her birds should recover without any permanent damage.

 

[jescee77]

Thank you so much! This is better news than I was expecting. I will watch them closely!

 

[Vintage Chick]

I just found some abandoned chickens at the neighborhood park. Some of them had combs that showed definite signs of fowl pox.
Due to recent flooding in our area, we are inundated with mosquitos!!! My birds are 23 weeks old and just started laying.
This brings me to several questions:

1. Is there anything preventative (other than below) that I should be doing to keep them from getting pox?
2. Vaccinate or not?
3. Any natural sprays that can be used on the birds, or around the hen house?
4. Do you "want" them to get pox (like children with chicken pox), to get the immunity?

I've read a bunch of responses about putting mesh screening on the windows, mosquito zappers, bat houses, mosquito-eating fish, dragonfly nymphs, catnip, plants, and more. I've spent SOOOO much money on my coop and run that I think we're "done" as far as another project goes. Just wondering about the above questions.

 

[FlyHigher]

I just found some abandoned chickens at the neighborhood park. Some of them had combs that showed definite signs of fowl pox.
Due to recent flooding in our area, we are inundated with mosquitos!!! My birds are 23 weeks old and just started laying.
This brings me to several questions:

1. Is there anything preventative (other than below) that I should be doing to keep them from getting pox?
2. Vaccinate or not?
3. Any natural sprays that can be used on the birds, or around the hen house?
4. Do you "want" them to get pox (like children with chicken pox), to get the immunity?

I've read a bunch of responses about putting mesh screening on the windows, mosquito zappers, bat houses, mosquito-eating fish, dragonfly nymphs, catnip, plants, and more. I've spent SOOOO much money on my coop and run that I think we're "done" as far as another project goes. Just wondering about the above questions.

I'm not an expert, but I would suggest that you vaccinate all the birds.
btw, have you adopted all those poor, abandoned chickens?
I really don't know why people would abandoned them. That is not humane to me.