Something wrong with my hen's comb

[trsttg]

My brown leghorn is about 5 months old, and she still has a healthy appetite and is active. A couple days ago I noticed that her comb looks like it's rotting - it's pale and eaten away and has black edges. The day we noticed, she also had blood coming out of her beak. So maybe she's being picked on? She seems withdrawn from the rest of the flock.

The other thing is some of the other hens also have sores on their combs and wattles. From what I read it could be pox?

These are my first chickens so I have no idea what could be wrong or what to do.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Post a picture or two, and we can sometimes distinguish between pecking and fowl pox. Pox is very common in warm humid areas in summer and fall. The lesions start out light tan, and can turn to dark brown scabs. It is caused by a virus spread by mosquitoes, and without complications, can last 2-3 weeks. Any scabs near eyes can cause serious eye infections, so an antibiotic eye ointment may be needed. Peck wounds scabs are usually jet black from dried blood.

 

[trsttg]

 

[Eggcessive]

That is probably fowl pox. Here is some reading about it:
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
http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=35

 

[WiddleChix]

Last year my flock had fowl pox. When I noticed it they were little black scans on the combs and wattles and near eyes. The comb on your hen looks like it could be infected because it looks swollen to me one of my chicks eyes had the pox and it became swollen and puffy like that. I put neosporin on all their spots several times a day and after multiple weeks it went away. All exept the one with the infected eye made it because it was my first year raising chickens and I had no idea what was going on until it was too late but I never gave up on her. Right now it just looks like dry pox which was the only type I had to deal with but there is also wet pox which is in there mouth. The blood makes me wonder if it was pecking unless it was coming out of her beak then I would wonder if it wet pox. Dry pox will usually not kill them if you keep it under control but the wet pox can kill them. It looks like yellow gunk, I can't really describe it, look up a picture on Google though it should really help. If you don't keep wet pox under control it can cause airway obstructions and suffocate your bird, if you do see it you can take a q-tip and wipe it out of their mouth but continue to check it because it can come back. I would check when you get the chance and make sure it's not in her or your other chickens' mouths. Pox is also contagious so you might want to keep her quarentined in a little hospital unit so it doesn't spread to the rest of your chickens. Once one of my chicks had it the rest got it, even the turkeys who I think had it the worst except for the one chick with an infected eye. I swear once the symptoms on one chicken were going away they would get reinfected because everyone else in the run had it and I couldn't quarentine anybody because I didn't have a spot! Make sure to research and it's a good idea to give them vitamins to boost their immune system and fight off secondary infections. Good luck and it's not too difficult to treat it just takes time

 

[trsttg]

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Many use 10% betadine on scabs to dry them out. Ointments can burn skin if chickens are out in the sun most of the day. Dry pox usually requires no treatment at all, but scabs near eyes can sometimes cause infections leading to blindness. Wet pox is only inside the beak, but can be in trachea (airway,) esophagus, crop, and may cause pain during eating. If a chicken is acting very ill or has a lot of skin lesions, I would look inside the throat with a flshlight for yellowish patches or spots.