Scabs on crest -- Patient survived but now...

[aliris]

My "Trigo" survived a possum attack and the gashes inside of her have actually healed however... her comb was growing paler even while she seemed more or less back to normal behaviorally. And now I see these scabs on her comb. Which has also shrink considerably in size I see looking back at older pictures. Plus I see now a second chicken (of flock of four) also has incipient scabs. Is there anything I can do please? TIA!!!

For reference here's what her crest looked like at the time of injury (or within the week thereafter). I had been attributing the color shift to molting but now I think not...?

Thank you!


OK - I'll edit to address the questions I was supposed to have already:
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) RIR - 1.5 years. A lot healthier than previously; seemingly +/- normal behavior but maybe more crabby (returned to alpha-chicken status but might be a little more pecky than formerly)
2) What is the behavior, exactly. - it isn't behavior that brought attention to the problem.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Attack by possum was end of October - so 7weeks ago? -ish. And I've entertained suspicions without getting close enough to confirm for a week now of the scabs.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Yes, 1 other (of 4)
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. n/a
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. There was a time about 2-3 week back I noticed bright yellow/orange poop from this bird. And it was runny. It seems to have normalized
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. watery after yellow-orange (v bright) but now OK.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? --
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Myself, probably.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use -- way too cramped commercial hand-me-down cutsey house. Plans in the offing to build a replacement.

 

[21hens-incharge]

She is definitely molting as there are a lot of new feathers still in the sheath visible in the picture.
The pale shrunken comb is likely from that.

The spots look like they may be fowl pox to me. That is a virus that must run its course.
Are there still mosquitoes active in your area?
The virus is often carried from host to host by them.

 

[LaFleche]

This looks like fowl pox to me. A virus that will run its course in about 3-4 weeks.

 

[LaFleche]

She is definitely molting as there are a lot of new feathers still in the sheath visible in the picture.
The pale shrunken comb is likely from that.

The spots look like they may be fowl pox to me. That is a virus that must run its course.
Are there still mosquitoes active in your area?
The virus is often carried from host to host by them.

You beat me to it!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Her pale comb is most likely because she isnt laying right now. Unless she is laying? At first, I thought maybe the scabs were fowl pox, but when you zoom in it kind of looks like the scabs might just be peck marks from another chicken.

 

[aliris]

Thanks both re the fowl pox. There are, unfortunately, too many mosquitos. It's an urban setting and it can be hard to encounter what squirrely little puddles have formed. We did find a big one a couple weeks back (after hunting high and low several times). So yeah.... probably that.

Will the virus jump to humans? I usually wash my hands after touching them but perhaps I should be more vigilant? Also, often kids visit them. I ask all to wear masks (I have no real confidence that covid couldn't land in chickens. Why not?? And/or vice-versa). But I wonder if I should disallow the visits til later? Not that these birds actually allow cuddling or picking up. They're not affectionate!

 

[aliris]

The molting is a combination of molting and recovery from a possum attack. She was very beat up and lost a lot of feathers.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Fowl pox is not something humans can catch.
I am not sure if it can be carried on ones hands or clothing to other flocks though.

She's doing a good job healing up.
Are you giving her extra protein to speed those feathers along? If not it won't hurt to give her some tuna, canned cat food or lean meat scraps a couple times a week. Just a tablespoon goes a long way toward helping those feathers grow.

 

[aliris]

All four chickens have been molting. You can see it in the feathers in the house at night - like the attack all over again, lol! And then the curtailed butt feather/s. Very funny. So this one first was recovering and then also seemingly molted. All that pin featherage on her neck is, I think, probably new growth from the attack? But it's hard for me to work out what is which. All four of my chickens are different breeds and seem to do things differently so it's hard to pattern-match.

None is laying right now. Even this "patient" did lay one egg, miraculously, about a week after the attack but that was all. They had all been slowing down before the attack. And after there were a few eggs, maybe a dozen over all though perhaps not quite that much. But nothing since. This is their first winter post-laying. They were born two Septembers ago. They started their first laying at the beginning of Feb last year.

 

[aliris]

Fowl pox is not something humans can catch.
I am not sure if it can be carried on ones hands or clothing to other flocks though.

She's doing a good job healing up.
Are you giving her extra protein to speed those feathers along? If not it won't hurt to give her some tuna, canned cat food or lean meat scraps a couple times a week. Just a tablespoon goes a long way toward helping those feathers grow.

"tuna, canned cat food or lean meat scraps" - that's a great idea! I give them freezedried mealworm for extra protein and they used to adore that. But since molting I've noticed they've all been very, very off their food. And as they seem to come out of the molt suddenly they show back up famished. It's fun to watch and appears pretty 1:1 -- I think they feel crummy when they molt?

But, they haven't been liking even their beloved mealworms!! They still adore corn, which isn't really protein though. I know they need more - I will try that tuna. Thank you. I have some tilapia in the fridge - will that work??