scabs on chicken's head and skin (pics included)

[chicken noob]

Hi all, this is my first post here. i've been lurking on these forums for quite a while now and i must say it has helped me out a lot on raising chickens. I have been rearing broilers (home use) for some months well now and just recently i have increased production a bit to earn an extra income.

Things have been going just fine until the last few months when my chickens started dieing out. Generally around 3-4 weeks (sometimes more) i may notice one or two chicks having trouble walking. It quickly gets worse and worse to the point where the chick cannot get any food/water and eventually dies.

I didn't bother with this much as only one or two chicks would die out of a batch of 40, but now i have a batch of 19 broilers that are 4 weeks old which were originally a batch of 40. Almost every morning i come into the coop to find one more dead chick. I have noticed small scabs on the head and skin of some of the chicks; anyone knows what is causing these scabs and if this is the disease killing my chickens?



tiny scabs on the skin








scabs on beak






scabs on face, one covers the chicken's left eye completely

 

[klmclain1]

I don't know WHAT it is, but I'd say YES it's killing your chickens! I'm sure someone has seen this before and will be able to tell you.

 

[nnbreeder]

It could be either Fowl Pox, canabilism or cancer.

The dry Pox can be treated with Iodine but it just has to run it's course. Once the scabs fall off they still carry the disease so any birds you find like this seperate them out and practice good bio-security when treating them.

If it's canabilism darken the area where they are. Often times it's caused by light reflecting off of white feathers and broilers are bad about it. Also double the numbers of feeders/waterers so there is no fighting over them.

What is your feeding schedule? Many that raise broilers use a 4 hour rotation. Feeders out for 4 hours, no feed for four hours. It regulates their growth better so there are less leg problems.

If it is cancer/tumors well there is not a lot that can be done for this.

 

[chicken noob]

I have 2 relatively large feeders and 2 large waterers so there isn't much fighting for either. I feed them once in the morning and once in the evening. If it is fowl pox, then how much iodine should i administer?

 

[nnbreeder]

Just like you would a cut, just brush a tad bit on the scabs and area around it.

 

[Gotti7fenix]

I don't know WHAT it is, but I'd say YES it's killing your chickens! I'm sure someone has seen this before and will be able to tell you.

I'm going to say it's probly fowl pox..it's painful for the chicken poor things.. keep them separated from flock very contagious..the less stress the faster they can heal but it needs a lot of attention

 

[dawg53]

I'm going to say it's probly fowl pox..it's painful for the chicken poor things.. keep them separated from flock very contagious..the less stress the faster they can heal but it needs a lot of attention

Welcome to BYC.
Thanks for your response, and I agree with you.
However, this thread is over 10 years old and I suspect the fowl pox is long gone by now.