Kennas_Kritters
Songster
Recently some of my birds got fowl pox. I started out with 6 Turkey poults, 2 ducks and 3 welsummer pullets. It started with my turkeys. First I noticed one of my Turkey poults was getting a little black wart like bump on his beak. The next day I noticed another poult was getting the same thing. Over the next few days the 2 poults got more of these bumps and some were pink some were black. I was researching about fowl pox but nothing looked quite like what my turkeys had. A few more days went by and all 6 Turkey poults ended up being infected (grrr I hate mosquitoes ). A week later the 3 poults that were infected first started acting weak and died over the next few days. I moved my welsummers to their own quarantine pen. They were fine at first but just days ago one of the welsummers got the pox as well. The welsummer actually got it the worst. Her eyes were crusted shut and swollen with pus in them. She got bumps on her head and one on her leg. My 3 surviving Turkey poults were still eating and drinking fine. The acted normal other than the odd bumps on them. The Turkey poults eventually got these bumps on their legs. I waited a month since that's apparently how long it takes for the bumps to go away. They didn't. They went away completely 3 times and just got infected again. Each time it came back it was worse. The black/pink bumps would scab over and sometimes turn yellow around the scabs then they would disappear and reappear a day or 2 later. After battling with this crap for over a month I decided it was time to cull. I culled the welsummer pullet first cause she was just suffering. Turns out it wasn't dry pox like I thought. It was wet pox. I culled the turkeys and they had wet pox as well. The ducks started showing symptoms and one died. I then culled the other duck since it was acting weak. So now I have 2 welsummer pullets left. They aren't showing any symptoms yet but I am keeping a close eye on them. ANYWAYS this has been a NIGHTMARE! I made this thread for people to ask questions and give answers to people that need them! I hope this thread will help others prevent this from happening to their flock. I didn't know much about the pox at first but now I will be ALOT more careful. Fowl pox is caused my infected mosquitos biting your birds. It slowly infects your flock and causes them to suffer. They may lose weight cause they are unable to eat properly. They could starve and die. It really sucks when you have birds that you love so much and some random crap like this happens and they are gone just like that. My reason for culling was my birds were simply suffering and I didn't want to risk the rest of my flock being infected. Especially since it was indeed the wet version (which is the bad one that kills). I have some questions of my own about this and I hope I can get some answers. I hope the rest of you that are having this issue can get some answers to. This stuff really sucks!
My questions~
~if my 2 welsummer pullets are carriers will their eggs be safe to hatch in my incubator or would the chicks hatch with the pox?
~if my welsummers have been with the infected turkeys but aren't showing symptoms would it ever be safe to put them with the rest of the flock or are they carriers that will infect my whole flock?
~how long will the area they're in be unsafe for other birds?
That's all my questions for now. T.I.A
My questions~
~if my 2 welsummer pullets are carriers will their eggs be safe to hatch in my incubator or would the chicks hatch with the pox?
~if my welsummers have been with the infected turkeys but aren't showing symptoms would it ever be safe to put them with the rest of the flock or are they carriers that will infect my whole flock?
~how long will the area they're in be unsafe for other birds?
That's all my questions for now. T.I.A