Please Help! Fowl Pox ***Pics***

[Chickie Pia]

Hi there,

Please could someone help! I found a chicken that has sores on its face and a few bubbles in its eye. Is it fowl pox? I have attached 2 pics. What can I do to help this poor girl!?

 

[little redhead]

Hope you are keeping it away from your flock if you have chickens!

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes that could be fowl pox, but sometimes pecking can look somewhat similar. Pox is a virus spread by mosquitoes, lasting 2-3 weeks in a chicken, and there may be other birds showing similar lesions. Any lesions around the eyes can cause secondary bacterial infections, so I would clean the eye with saline, and apply an antibiotic ointment twice a day. Make sure the chicken is eating and drinking normally, or look into the mouth and throat for any yellow lesions that could be wet or diphtheritic pox, which can be deadly. Dry pox is usually not serious, and most chickens recover. You can apply iodine to scabs to help dry them. Here is some reading:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/195/fowl-pox/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/07/fowl-pox-prevention-treatment.html

 

[Chickie Pia]

Thank you so much! I will get some antibiotic cream. I have separated her and put her inside in a large cage. Also put antibiotics in her water. She can hardly see, one eye completely covered and the other slightly open.

 

[Eggcessive]

If there is pus or crust in the eye, it needs to be cleaned out to allow the eye medicine to work, but at the same time, disturbing scabs can spread the virus. Have you seen any other chickens with scabs? When there is one case of pox, there are usually more when there are so many scabs. Let us know how gets along.