Warty Chicken?

Lilorp14

Songster
8 Years
Sep 26, 2014
330
264
226
VA
Hello everyone,
Last night I was putting some new hens in the coop and I noticed that one of my English Orpingtons had a bunch of weird black warts on her face and comb. She seems healthy and is eating and drinking fine. The warts are more scaly than infected. Attached are some pics.
IMG_20181118_170109434.jpg
IMG_20181118_170050184.jpg
 
I also think it's likely that those are some large fowl pox lesions. I would also leave them alone. When they start to dry up and scab over they can look crusty like that. If they don't improve in several weeks time then I'd start to look at other possibilities. Here are some pictures of some larger lesions from fowl pox to compare:
c448acfba2b59a2836439279ab5cc779--cavities-pigeon.jpg

FowlPox4.jpg

Fowlpox2.jpg
 
Ok, is there anything I should do for her or should I just let it take its course?
 
As long as she's eating and drinking OK, I would just let it run it's course. Messing with the scabs can spread the virus, so best to leave them alone. Keeping waterers and feeders clean can help minimize the spread. I had one bird with pox last year, no others got it. Once they recover they have some resistance to that strain.
 
Have you seen any mosquitoes lately, or have you had any other birds with brown or tan scabs on the faces or combs?

I am going to guess that it is some sort of fungus, but I may be wrong. It doesn’t look like the usual fowl pox lesions, but they can look differently in each bird, depending on the strain. You could watch it and do nothing for a few days, but if it spreads, I would apply some antifungal cream such as miconazole or clotrimazole daily to the crusty lesions. Don’t disturb the lesions otherwise, because if it is pox instead, you can spread it by removing scabs. Use gloves to apply the cream.
 
The one thing that looks more like pox is there are similar looking scabs above and below her left eye, and on her wattles. It is just the grey color that throws me off, and makes it seem more like fungus. It is cold here now, and usually mosquitoes are out when we see fowl pox. Has this been on her for awhile?
 

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