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

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What can I do to ease the suffering?


This is what I did but Kathy may have a simpler method.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/708830/update-chickens-might-have-wet-fowl-pox#post_9723979

Symptoms:
Gasping for breaths
Clear, yellow and green gunk coming from their eyes and mouth.
One or both eyes were VERY swollen and shut. Most of them could not see. They were walking around in circles.
Large wet scabs had taken over their beaks and mouths.
Stopped eating and drinking
Weight loss
Odor from head and mouth area.
Drooping head
Some were unable to walk
Constant sleeping

My Wet Pox Medical Supply Kit
1. Penicillin
2. Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder
3. Enfamil Poly-Vi-sol Liquid WITHOUT IRON vitamins for kids
4. Anti-bacterial soap
5. Saline solution
6. Flockraiser crumble (mixed with a bit of hot water for feeding)
7. Gatorade
8. Yogurt
9. Pedia sure
10. Latex gloves
11. LARGE wide feeder (Medium size metal pot) - Because they were blind, I wanted a wide open feeder where they could easily access and peck around without trying to
find and peck through a feeder hole.
12. Dishpan for water.
13. Syringe without the needle
14. Bleach

Daily Diet
Mixture of flockraiser crumble (mixed with warm water for easy digestion), scrambled eggs and yogurt. I mixed all of this together and hand fed this to them 3 times a day. I made the mixture as soft/watery as possible because I was literally hand feeding them. Flockraiser crumble was still available for them in it's original form (not mixed with water) and placed in their area. If they stumbled onto the feeder, they would eat.

Set up
1. I removed ALL of them from the chicken yard and set up a make-shift infirmary in my garage.
2. I squared off/blockaded an area wide enough for them to walk around but still able to locate their feeder and waterer if they "ran into it". Most of them were blind from the
large scabs that had swollen and covered their eyes they could not see.

Daily Routine:
1. I cleaned their faces 3 times a day with an anti-bacterial soap for the 1st wash and for the 2nd wash, I used a saline solution. I would not suggest anyone do this but after 3 weeks of not seeing any improvement with the scabs leaving, I picked the scabs off. The skin did bleed a bit but the scabs didn't begin to heal until AFTER I started pulling the scabs. After pulling the scabs, I washed the area with a saline solution. I ALWAYS wore gloves and I changed out and disposed gloves EVERY TIME I went to the next turkey. I never used the same pair of gloves on every turkey when working with them. I did not want more cross contamination although they all had the same thing.
2. I would also gently squeeze the stuff that looked like cottage cheese chunks out of their eyes after every face and eye wash on a daily basis.
3. Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder and fresh water was mixed for them daily. Because they could not see and probably wasn't drinking the amount that they needed, I used the sryinge to draw up the mixture and slowly drizzle it down their throats. In addition to the medicated water, I also used the syringe to give them fresh water 3 times a day. I also gave them 3 cc's of gatorade (electrolytes & for dehydration) daily. I gave them Pedia sure every other day for weight gain, growth and development.
4. I gave them Penicillin (at room temperature) orally 3 times a day EVERY day.
5. I gave then Poly-Vi-Sol liquid once a day every day.
6. Because they weren't able to preen their feathers, I bathed (bubble bath) them every 3 days with warm water and a little anti-bacterial soap. I made sure they were completely dry and warm before putting them back in the garage.
7. I kept their area sanitized and clean with bleach and water. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing every day.

This was a VERY tedious routine. I would see to them after I finished my other chores with the other animals. I would not finish with them until midnight on most nights but I was determined to save them. After about 5 weeks, I saw MUCH improvement and I started letting them walk around in the back yard every day to familiarize them with the rest of the world being as though they had been cooped up for 5 weeks without seeing or feeling any sunlight or smelling fresh air. After about 6 weeks all of them were healed and had no symptoms and were back to normal. I placed them back in a coop with no other critters for about a week to monitor to make sure that they were 100% before letting them back into general population.

After seeing that they were completely healed, I let them out with the rest of the animals. I did not have any other animals get wet pox after this. All 12 turkeys survived and are doing VERY well. I did have 1 turkey who did lose it's right eye because of the severity of the scabs but other than that the turkey is doing fine. So to say that all of them had 1 foot in the grave and survived with only 1 losing an eye, I think I did ok trying to save them.

Disclaimer:
Again, I can only detail what I did. I will not suggest that anyone do this for their poultry or game birds because it may not work for the next person. I am not a vet nor am I a person with any kind of formal training when it comes to medical care dealing with animals but I am one who reads daily on diseases, illnesses and symptoms as it relates to poultry, waterfowl and livestock.
 
I saw your pictures, thanks so much for sharing them. How did you pull off those sores?

On one I applied some neosporin and waited for it to soften the scabs, then pulled them off, removed pus and applied iodine tincture. Now I only remove the sores that are covering the eyes or the sores that look infected. The ones that don't have the pus in the mouth seem to heal much faster, so I think you'll be fine.

-Kathy
 
Wow my hen dose not look that bad (knock on wood). she has wet pox it is growing around her windpipe. she is looking better. She was looking really pale the first day. second day she got her color back in her face. and she is breathing better.
 
Ok so I have pulled out all the cheesish colored growths. this is day three. Do you guys think it will grow back or do you guys think she will recover from this.I really hope so.
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This is a photo of her on day two.
 
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Quote: Ok if it dose not come back dose that mean she is not going to spread it to my other chickens? The sad thing is she is very lonly where I Have her she seems to perk up ever time I go in there. ( I hope I spelled everything correctly)
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