Wet and Dry Fowl Pox - Graphic Pictures of Pus and Scabs

[championsumatra]

Quote: Oh man that looks bad

 

[springchicken10]

My silkie chicken never got this bad. She's just about over it. Looking real good and I think the key might be in identifying a problem in its early stages. One day my silkie had a white crust over her eye. It wasn't right so I got on the threads here to get it diagnosed. I hope the poor creature in this photo makes it. Betadine worked well on my hen.

 

[casportpony]

I had a problem last year with two of my chickens, which my vet said was Fowl Pox. I sadly lost the two of them, one to Dry Pox and one suddenly to Wet Pox. I thought to begin with, that she just had a chest infection, causing her to cough. I couldn't get her in with my Vet, so had to take her to a different practice, who didnt even look down her throat. They gave her a shot of antibiotics but sadly she died that evening. The Dry Pox started with yellow lumps on her wattles and comb, which from the photos, you'll see, over the weeks, got worse, causing areas all over body to react, including her legs and feathers. She also tested positive for ringworm, so I too was treating her for a fungal infection as well as letting the Fowl Pox take its course.






The latter pictures is where I had, out of desperation, used Gentian Violets. She sadly gave up her fight after 4 weeks and died in my arms
Her Fowl Pox looks different to most of the pictures on here?
Good luck, to anyone whose chickens are fighting this horrible disease. I did isolate this hen from my others and fortunately, it didn't spread any further.
I still haven't got over losing my beautiful girls.

Sorry for your loss...

It's important to weigh them as soon as you see they are sick, then weigh daily. If they lose weight it means they aren't eating and drinking enough and that's what will usually kill them, not the pox. If losing weight they must be tube fed. The hen above might also have had a secondary infection or it's possible that she had Marek's, not pox.

-Kathy

 

[Tappy4me]

Thank you so much for making this thread! Learning so many things in my research before we go to pick up our chicks.

We will definitely be vaccinating against mareks and fowl pox, as we have tons of mosquitos in the summer. My question is, for both vaccines, what age do we need to vaccinate? Our guys will be mostly free ranging so we want to prevent as much disease as we can.

Thanks!

 

[casportpony]

Ask the hatchery to vaccinate for Marek's, that's supposed to be done when they hatch. Not sure about pox.

-Kathy

 

[Tappy4me]

Were getting most of the chicks from southern states. Ill be asking them if they know if the chicks were vaccinated when we go then. If they don't maybe they can give me the hatcheries name so I can call and ask. Getting 9 chicks there and 3 buff orpingtons from a local npip breeder not far from here if he has some left.

Ill keep researching the pox then. Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Were getting most of the chicks from southern states. Ill be asking them if they know if the chicks were vaccinated when we go then. If they don't maybe they can give me the hatcheries name so I can call and ask. Getting 9 chicks there and 3 buff orpingtons from a local npip breeder not far from here if he has some left.

Ill keep researching the pox then. Thanks

Southern States and Tractor Supply do not vaccinate their chicks.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: What gets me is that TSC will lie and say that they are vaccinated!

-Kathy

 

[Eggcessive]

What gets me is that TSC will lie and say that they are vaccinated!

-Kathy

Well the bottom line is price. Since most of these stores sell chick for $2-3 a piece, they figure people don't want to spend a dollar extra for vaccines that many newbies don't even know about, or the importance of having done. I have been pretty fortunate so far with having most of my chickens vaccinated, then getting some later who were not. Also I have raised many of my own, and still no Mareks, thank goodness.

 

[Cluckitcottage]

Thank you Kathy for your comments. I keep a very close eye on my chickens and took this girl to the vets, when she had one yellow pustule on her wattle. The vet thought it was a cholesterol deposit and he broke it open to remove it. Within days, she then developed some more on her comb. I took her back and the vet and he diagnosed Fowl Pox and also a fungal nfection. She lived in the house for 4weeks and eat well until the last couple of days when we fed her by syringe but i still do worry if we weren't getting enough food down her.
I could never find pictures of Fowl Pox that were similar to her's and yes, I do wonder it it was something else. The only thing that makes me think it was Fowl Pox was that when I lost my other girl, the vet opened her up and she had a lump of pus in her windpipe, so the vet presumed it was Wet Pox and that she had choked to death.
I have 11 chickens in total and with the sadness from this experience, I have now decided to make sure, that in future, I only buy vaccinated chickens. I do not want to see my chickens go through this again.