POX? Need vet in the Los Angeles area please...

[Kuki]

Hi and thanks in advance. I just noticed sores on my 5 month old baby Welsummer hens faces.

I think its dry pox. I have 4 other hens and I'm sure they are probably infected now too. Can anyone tell me what to treat them with and can I buy it online or at a local pet store/feed store? I read that I need to sterilize the coop...what should I use for that? My girls are free range egg layers...pets. I love them so much.

I need help....does anyone know a mobile vet that will come to me? I'm in Eagle Rock CA and I will pay whatever it takes.

I will get pics in the AM, its too dark now.

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated. I have two five year old black stars, and my new babies (2 Welsummers, one easter egger and one light brahma) 5 months old.

Thank you! We are so sad right now and desperate.

 

[welasharon]

It's okay. You don't have to do anything although if you feel you just have to you can put iodine on the spots but I didn't bother. The dry pox is not so bad usually. It will go away in a couple of weeks or so. THen they will be immune. Don't waste a vet visit on dry pox.
sharon

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The lady who is the president of our local poultry club, who has been keeping chickens for manymanymany years, says to dab liquid black shoe polish on those lesions. But sometimes I just leave them untreated with anything, just keeping an eye on them for any worsening or secondary infections, and they still get better all by themselves.

You're part of a great & caring community of chicken keepers here!

 

[Kuki]

Thank you. So should I not treat the water with antibiotics? Will that help? Thanks.

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
My vet told me too when one of are chickens had fowl pox.
Its to prevent a secondary infection they may get from having a suppressed immune system.
If you are going to though, you also need to give them a good pro-biotic like yogurt.

 

[CMV]

Dry pox is not a big deal. There need be no antibiotics or coop sterilization. Dry pox is a very minor virus carried by mosquitoes. It is unsightly, but generally heals with in 3 weeks and the bird has partial immunity from the virus from that point on. That means they can get it again in the future, but usually less severely.

No treatment is required, but to prevent secondary infections you can dab the pox marks with straight iodine/betadine to help dry them out. This speeds the healing and prevents infection. I have also read that there have been folks who have used topical antivirals on the pox with good effect, but I am unfamiliar with the specifics of this course of treatment.

Do not concern yourself too much over this. Your birds will look fairly rough for a couple weeks, but it will pass. There are few complications from this illness generally.

Good luck.

 

[Kuki]

Thank you! I bought the antibiotics today, because I'm not sure if it is pox. All the pics on the internet look like it though. Can dry pox turn into wet pox? I'm worried if I don't give antibiotics it will get worse. Sorry to sound like a manic wierdo...I just love my girls. Thanks so much for the the info...you guys are the best!

 

[welasharon]

Do the spots look like this? Sort of black on the inside with whitish around the spot?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Kuki, you just sound like a good concerned chicken-keeper! Your hens are fortunate to be under your care.

With my chickens, as with my kids, I try to look at their overall behavior in addition to their symptoms. If your hens just have the lesions that look like the pictures of dry pox, and they're otherwise looking/acting/eating/pooping normally, then they shouldn't need any more medicine. It's usually not a good idea to give antibiotics unless there is an active infection to treat. Fowl Pox is a virus and oral antibiotics won't cure it.

The lesions may make them look rather pathetic for a week or so, but just continue to give them a lot of attention and good general care. One thing to watch for is if they start pecking on each other's sore spots and causing them to bleed. That's why my friend recommends the black shoe polish, to camoflauge the lesions.

The good news is that once they've had Fowl Pox they make their own immunity to it and never get it again. I live in swampy South Florida where mosquitoes thrive. Every summer it's always my young chickens under age one who get the pox, the older birds aren't ever affected again.