The fowl pox thread~ ask questions get answers.

Kennas_Kritters

Songster
Dec 30, 2019
490
936
186
Polk City, FL
My Coop
My Coop
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
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20210913-104007_Snapchat.jpg
    Screenshot_20210913-104007_Snapchat.jpg
    327.9 KB · Views: 53
Birds which are fully recovered from Fowl Pox have virtual immunity to it for the rest of their lives. They can be reintroduced to others of the flock 3-4 weeks after last showing symptoms. As yours are not showing symptoms, I'd quarantine a month and if they remain clear, reintroduce. If they become symptomatic, adjust accordingly.
 
I have a question. Can dry pox become wet pox, or is it two different viruses?
Dry fowl pox and wet or the diptheritic form of fowl pox is the same virus. A chicken can have both at the same time, but wet pox is seen less. Wet pox is only seen inside the beak and throat, and can be in the airway, and yellow plaques are seen. Dry pox is on the skin (usually the face, comb, wattles and ears, and around eyes.) Fallen scabs from healed pox lesions can become powdery and be inhaled by other chickens, which can cause an outbreak in other chickens later.
 
I read that chickens can get the wet pox if they eat the dried scabs that have fallen. Is this true?
they can get the dry pox from it too. Fallen scabs, full of virii from previously infected chickens is one of the ways fowl pox spreads thru flocks, even when obviously infected birds are quickly moved to quarantine (or culled). It doesn't magically "become" wet pox after falling on the ground however. The virus is the virus. Over a 24 year span, Singh isolated 9 different strains of the FPV virus in the field from outbreaks here in the US as of the early 2000s. No reason to think there aren't more out there. 6 strains remain common subjects of study due to their relative frequency, at least thru the last part of last decade. This study looks at 11, plus three strains of pigeon pox, at least one of which might be identical to a known FPV variant, and six labratory samples from vaccines.

and of course there are a number of related Avian pox virii that don't happen to be one of the FPVs. CPV (Canary Pox Virus) is the type which runs rampant thru wild bird species periodically. There is also PPV, or Pigeon Pox Virus, which has been found in chickens, and is symptomatically similar (or perhaps originated in Chickens and is now transmissible to pigeons, but was first identified in pigeons) - it was named before the advent of modern genetic testing.
 
I am not sure that pox is spread by eating scabs. I have not read that. This is a good article about how pox is spread through direct contact from mosquitoes, disturbing scabs, and aerosol inhalation:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/fowlpox/fowlpox-in-chickens-and-turkeys
agree, most of the better literature discusses cuts and abrasions in contact with the scabs, infected feathers or dander, etc - but there is no reason to suspect that the beak area, mouth, and throat are any less prone to cuts and abrassions than, say, the feet - tchickens using feet and beak together to explore their world, and almost necessarily using both to eat. Its seems needlessly pedantic (even to me) to focus on which contact/behavior caused the disease - its enough that it happened.

Though extrapolating from personal experience (not neccessarily valid - often not, where poultry are involved) - I know that a wound in my mouth or throat takes longer to heal than a similar wound on my skin.
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom