How I Fixed Fowl Pox in My Flock…
When you move to the West Texas desert, you don’t expect to be carried away by mosquitoes in the summer months due to lack of water. However, like chickens, mosquitos have been around for even longer (226 million years…) and have learned how to adapt. These pesky pests can lay their eggs in moist soil, forget the pond, these blood sucking bandits are on a mission to multiply. I have found that these desert mosquitos are more nimble, smaller and provide no warning whining sound like the big bugs back East. These stealthy suckers can bite through your yoga pants and can transmit diseases like Zika virus, West Nile, Chikungunya virus, dengue, and malaria. But, did you know that mosquitos can also transmit nasties like heart worm in dogs (which is why your dog should be on a monthly preventative treatment like HeartGuard) and Fowl Pox in chickens? Yes, that’s right! Even your feather covered friends are susceptible to mosquitos.
What is Fowl Pox?
Fowl Pox is a highly contagious virus transmitted to chickens by those most annoying mosquitoes. After one bird is infected, it can quickly spread to all members of your flock. As I new chicken mama, I knew about proper mosquito prevention, but had never heard of Fowl Pox and did not know beforehand that there are readily available vaccines for chickens for this disease. Before we talk about my pox pandemic, let’s talk about mosquito prevention and best practices.
To deter mosquitos, there are a few things you can do around your backyard to discourage a comfortable environment for these bugs to hang out in. Here are some good guidelines to live by: Be gone mosquitos!
DO NOT spray caustic pesticides where you have pets, children, or wildlife. - NO!
The mosquito “fogging” services that kill mosquitoes kill honey bees and butterflies too. Just because it’s approved by the EPA, doesn’t mean you should use it. Remember DDT kids? If you don’t just go Google “DDT Bald Eagles”. Always do your research before using chemicals. - NO!
Remove standing water. If you have old flower pots, tires, or other junk laying around, make sure that none of these things are allowing water to pool up. If you have an open chicken watering station, make sure to clean this frequently and replace with fresh water. - YES!
Make your space smell less appealing. Mosquitoes do not like the smell of Citronella, Sage, Peppermint, Marigolds, Lavender, Basil, Oregano, and Rosemary. Plant these around your coop. Not only will they smell nice in the yard, but allowing your chickens to wander through (be watchful that the chickens do not demolish…) these plants results in some of the scented oils rubbing off on your birdies. You can also dry the herbs and flowers and add them to your nesting boxes. - YES!
Get a mosquito trap. Some bug “zappers” will attract and kill more moths than mosquitoes. I have had success with this one from Dynatrap with the lure packet to attract mosquitoes. It also catches flying termites which I am also OK with. - YES!
Now, let’s get back to the pox.
To put it simply, Fowl Pox is a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus spread to your flock by those nasty little mossies (aka mosquitoes). The virus generally presents as lesions on the skin which are prolific on the wattles and comb of the chicken and also the eye area. While uncomfortable for the chicken, the cutaneous version can be managed, however there is also a “wet” version of Fowl Pox where the lesions spread to the mouth and esophagus of the chicken which can inhibit breathing and cause respiratory distress and/or death.
For veterinary information on this disease, I recommend reviewing the Merk Manual on this subject.
What Does Fowl Pox Look Like?
Fowl Pox looks like, well a very terrible version of Chicken Pox
Lesions will be visible on the comb, around the eyes, and on the wattles.
Lesions can also form inside of the chickens mouth, if this happens, watch for respiratory distress, or changes to the sound of the chicken’s normal squawking.
Fowl Pox first affected my little Dominique bantam, Rose. In doing a regular flock check, I noticed that she had a spot on her rose comb that was actively bleeding. At the time I had assumed that one of the other hens may have pecked at her. I immediately separated Rose from the flock and cleaned out and treated her wound. After the blue kote had dried, I put her back in with the flock. Within 24hrs I started to notice spots on the crowns of the other hens.
As a new chicken keeper, during this outbreak, I did not know what to look for nor had I heard of Fowl Pox. I had vaccinated my chickies against Marek’s disease as part of my hatchery order. I had read up on coccidiosis, and parasites, and mites. But when it came to Fowl Pox, I failed my chickens. If you live in a mosquito prone area, there is a vaccine for Fowl Pox.
Now, because of the mosquitos it may very well be that my other hens already had Fowl Pox, or were going to get it regardless. One by one, my little ladies started to show signs on their combs. My Crele Old English Game bantam Blanche got it the worst. She is a happy vocal little hen and not only did she have pox on her comb, but her left eye became swollen and crusted over and then I noticed that she was losing her voice. She became raspy sounding and had both the dry and wet pox and was puffed up not looking like her sprightly self. If you are like me and find out that your flock is infected with Fowl Pox prior to learning about vax options, here are some steps you can take to help your flock recover.
Clean the whole damn coop. The Fowl Pox virus is spread by “hot debris” i.e. scabs and any other crusty stuff that could be inhaled, eaten, brushed up against, etc. Get out your rubber gloves and get in there and clean with your hot water and vinegar solution. Do not forget to clean you waterer and feeder too. Wear a mask while cleaning.
Provide electrolytes. I added Rooster Booster to the water and changed the water out daily. You could also add probiotics and electrolytes like SAV-A-CHICK to the water.
Offer an easy to eat, nutrient rich food source. Check out my go-to chicken rescue recipe here.
Treat open wounds. Any active bleeders should be separated from the flock immediately. For a list of what your should have on hand as good chicken mama click, see the First Time Chicken Keeper First Aid list here.
Debride and irrigate infected eyes with sterile saline. Be gentle when doing this and make sure that you do not get your hen’s feathers all wet in the process. I recommend gently swaddling your hen with a towel before irrigation.
Do an airway check. Make sure that the nostrils on the beak are not crusted over. Gently wipe with cloth or paper towel (throw away afterwards, sorry recycling Gods…)
Watch for behavioral changes. Any chicken hunched over on its own should be separated from the flock to prevent pecking by the other hens. Make sure that wherever you move the hen that it is safe, dry, and warm and that they have access to fresh water and food. Try to keep the isolation period minimal as removal from the flock can create pecking order issues. When reintroducing to the flock, observe behaviors.
Over the span of several weeks, my flock was dealing with the active symptoms of Fowl Pox. While the ladies were now 5 months old and had just started laying eggs, due to the Fowl Pox, egg production came to a halt. (My hens did not begin to lay eggs again until the following spring!)
At the time of publishing this blog post, I can happily report that all 4 ladies fully recovered and are all laying beautiful bantam eggs. I have since purchased a second mosquito zapper in preparation for the summer (find it here on Amazon) and am heading into mosquito season knowing that after your flock gets Fowl Pox, they shouldn’t get it again.