Fowl Pox in Backyard Chickens

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Today's episode is part of our "Summer Series on Keeping Your Backyard Flock Healthy and Happy in the Warmer Months." 

You can read our blog posts about each of our summer series here: Wilma's Summer Series 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my beautiful people.
And welcome back to anotherepisode of Wilma.
The wonder hands podcast.
I am Mel.
The creator in today's episodeis part of our summer series.
And today is about foul pops.
Yes, avian pox.
I know we should refer to it aschicken PS, but it's not the
same thing as the human chickenpalms, which really doesn't make

(00:23):
sense.
But Ian let's get over ourdisclaimers one.
You'll probably hear misspumpkin in the background.
She is currently sitting on adozen coil eggs and she is quite
mean, and honoring, you may alsohear Paul, which was formally
known as poly pocket.
My quail, that is, uh, a lonequail.
That is our pet that is insidethe house.

(00:43):
Paul or poly has startedgrowing.
So we know for a fact that it isin fact, a Brewster.
I am also not a veterinarian,nor do I play one on this
podcast.
So whatever information I sharewith you is gonna be through the
scientific, uh, area of theinterwebs, which is like Merck

(01:05):
vet.com, poultry DMV.
I will also be referencing someof Gale Damour rose book, the
chicken, uh, health handbook,and at my own firsthand
experience because the heiferfarm has had in the past foul PX
, the dry kind, Hey, y'all I'mMel and you are listening to

(01:31):
Wilma the wonder hand, are you achicken mouth loving mama and
daddy together?
We'll dive into the latestpoultry keeping adventures chat
about everyday life.
We're the generous mix of somehilarious stories, bringing you
fascinating interviews withpoultry owners from all over

(01:52):
you'll find tips and basicadvice from your local
veterinarians, along with newchicken, keeping gadgets and
reviews.
I'm gonna see what Mr.
JS and Wilma has to say aboutthat.
We're going to encourage andhelp you build a stronger,
healthier flop.
Let's go see what Mr.
JS and Wilma is up to.
Let's go let these heifers out.

(02:14):
So yes, FPO comes in a dry or awet.
It can go from wet to dry or dryto wet.
The most common is gonna be yourdry, but we're gonna go over
both of those.
Also a note.
This is part of our summerseries because during the warm
months, this is when all theflies and the mosquitoes, uh,
they seem to be the mostproblem.

(02:35):
So this is what we can do to tryand minimize our Fox risk.
There's also a vaccine.
Uh, I would highly recommendthat you ask your veterinarian
about that.
And from what I've read online,that once your flock does have
it, they can build up animmunity to it.
How long that immunity lasts.

(02:55):
I don't know.
I really couldn't find a wholelot of information on that.
Some say a lifetime, some saysix months, some say, you know,
various times Mylock had itthree years ago and we have not
had it since first.
We're gonna kind of go over filePX or otherwise you may hear it
known as avian pox.
That is the dry PX.

(03:16):
The wet PX is gonna be, we'regonna do last because it is
definitely a different scenario.
And it is also much more seriousthan the dry PX with the dry P.
Um, it takes four to 10 days forlike an incubation period.
And it could take up to 10 weeksto run through your whole entire
flock.
Dry PX is a virus just like wetPX, but a dry PX is definitely

(03:40):
more common and it is not asfrightening as wet PX, wet PX,
uh, can be deadly.
So a dry PX, you may notice, um,small, white pimple like button,
uh, bumps, uh, on their comb.
Mainly you're gonna see this innon feathered places.

(04:02):
So like on their eyelids, uh,their head and neck, certain
areas, their WATS, maybe theirfeet, their legs, and they look
like little blisters and theymay be SW you may see some
swelling and your flock maygenerally just not feel good.
Overall.
Now these, um, lesions canappear to look like pecking, uh,

(04:23):
injuries.
Uh, the difference that Ivisually seen in my flock is it
has like a thickening.
It has almost a yellow or whitekind of ashy looking tent to it.
I noticed one day, Mr.
Jangles, he had some Peck markson his comb.
What I thought were Peck marks.

(04:43):
And the end later on that day, Inoticed after I'd been taking
pictures of them, I noticedseveral of the other girls had
the same marks.
And I thought, wow, they must besome really big fighting going
on because, you know, they can,uh, leave marks on their Combs
and, you know, they get wild andstart fighting over stuff.
But I noticed, uh, several othergirls and, uh, that's what I

(05:07):
knew something else was goingon.
And you could see them towardsthe bottom of their bottles and,
uh, around their ear, you know,where there's no feathers there.
So I knew this had to be ox nowwith the dry box, it can take up
to two weeks for an individualbird to, um, for the blisters to

(05:29):
kind of sloth off.
They'll dry up and they'll slothoff.
And it can take 10 weeks, uh, togo through the whole entire
flock, which it did take acouple of months here for
everyone's, um, little blistersto heal up and fall off.
Now you'll also notice that eggproduction can, uh, be reduced.

(05:51):
Uh, it's a virus.
So if you have a virus, youknow, your body naturally is
just trying to fight it off andyou don't feel good.
So in laying hints, that's thething, the first thing that's
gonna kind of, uh, slack off nowwith dry PX, the most important
part is you want to keep those,uh, lesions, uh, clean and you
want to keep them, um, treated,you can use diluted betaine and

(06:14):
you can use saline solution.
Um, you can spray a little bitof the vet spray on a cotton
swab and, you know, uh, put thaton their, uh, lesions, wherever
they may be.
You just wanna be careful ifit's close to their eyes, you
know, obviously you don't wantto be putting betaine in your
Burn's eye.
Now, if you have access to aveterinarian, I definitely call

(06:34):
them.
And this is when they candiscuss with you about giving a
vaccine.
I do not know anything aboutbuying a vaccine.
There are lots of Infor, thereis lots of information online
about obtaining that vaccine,but the vaccine has to be done
in a very particular way.
So like I said, there is avaccine, but I personally would
speak to a professional on it.

(06:56):
Maybe a professional breeder,maybe, you know, someone who has
a lot of experience with thesevaccines and with dry PX, you
don't want it to turn into wetPX.
So this is where you wanna beextra clean.
You want to make sure that allthe waters are cleaned.
I would clean my waterers dailywith a solution of vinegar and
water.

(07:17):
I would keep their area clean.
You know, you, these are thingsthat we would do anyways, but
it's gonna spread through yourflock one way or another.
If they're living in closecontact with each other, it
spread through dander, it,spread through drinking through
their water, it spread throughtheir feathers.
So if you have one that islooking particularly sick, and
this is where dry PX can turninto wet PX, I would definitely

(07:39):
separate this one.
Wet PX is when it starts tobecome a respiratory issue.
Thankfully, all of mine justwent through the regular dry pox
.
Uh, nobody, uh, appeared to haveany type of respiratory illness.
So we are very grateful forthat.
I did keep their lesions very,very clean.
Now this virus, uh, can, um,survive for months through

(08:01):
dander and feathers.
So after the dry pox ran itscourse here, I completely
cleaned out everything.
I cleaned out all their bedding.
Like I said, we kept the wateras extra, extra clean.
I made sure everything wascleaned.
Uh, so that to help, you know,reduce the chances of it staying

(08:23):
longer here.
Uh, so yeah, keeping up with allof that was super important.
Moving on to wet pox.
That's what we're gonna take themajority of the time on this
podcast, because it is the one,it is the variety OXS, that is
definitely more, um, deadly.
It's something that you wannapay really close attention to.

(08:45):
That's see why it's important tokeep those lesions clean, you
know, pay very, very closeattention to see if any type of
respiratory issue starts todevelop along with the lesions,
moving on to wet PX, which isalso known as foul diptheria.
It is an upper upper respiratory, um, virus.

(09:07):
And the incubation time is thesame four to 10 days.
It could take two weeks to 10weeks to run through your entire
flock.
You'll notice with wet pox, theystill will have those lesions.
They will have nasal discharge.
Uh, there will be a dis uh, adecrease in egg production,
which is just means your handsare just not feeling good, uh,

(09:28):
that you could notice weightloss, uh, definitely lethargy.
Uh, the raised yellow, uh,lesions are not just on the
outside.
They will move to the throat,the mouth, the tongue, it can
block the sinuses.
It can block airway.
Now this can also look like someother respiratory, uh, issues.

(09:50):
Also the, um, cheesy likematerial inside of their mouth.
This can resemble canker.
Now the dry PX can turn into asecondary infection like wet PX.
Uh, this can, their lesions canturn into a bacterial infection.
And this is where antibioticswould be used.
If you see a member of yourflock that is suffering from the

(10:11):
wet PX, I would definitelyisolate this bird.
Now with dry PX, you can justlet it run through your flock
unless you have one that isreally, you know, struggling
with it.
But wet PX is definitelysomething I would separate my
bird from the flock, even thoughthe rest of them may have
already been exposed.
You don't want this bird to bepicked on.

(10:32):
So I would definitely, uh,separate that bird and keep the
lesions as clean.
And I would contact yourveterinarian about some type of
antibiotic.
If you are suspecting abacterial infection, you can go
back and listen to our lastweek's podcast, which is part of
our summer series on how tocontrol flies and things like

(10:52):
that in your, uh, co and runarea.
Obviously it's gonna be hard tocontrol, you know, big bodies of
water, uh, but we can minimizein our yard and on our
properties and near our runs andstuff.
You know, if you have anybuckets of water, just kind of
laying around, you know, keepingthose empty, keeping the fly

(11:14):
traps up, however way that you,you know, manage your flies.
We did have some great ideas onlast week's podcast.
So just being aware of thesethings, you know, to cut down,
like with us, we have a Creekthat runs through the back of
our property.
You know, I can't get rid of theCreek.
So I just have to try andminimize what I can control,

(11:36):
minimizing their exposure to,you know, tons and tons of
mosquitoes.
You can't get rid of all ofthem, but we can do these things
to kind of prevent them.
But in the end, you know, wecan't do everything.
We can't put them in a bubbleand protect them from every
single thing.
Although we would love to, uh,they still have to be chickens

(11:58):
and still have to do theirthing.
But I think the more we know themore educated we are, then the
more compassion we can share forthem.
So the more we know, the morethat we can take action and try
and prevent these things, butdon't feel bad if you can't
prevent it because I felt badtoo.
When I finally figured out thatmy flock had fall pox and I

(12:19):
mean, it, we try so hard to doall the right things and then
things do still happen.
So we just learn from them andwe move on.
I really hope y'all are enjoyingthese little mini series.
They are not very long, and Idon't go into tons and tons of
scientific, uh, information,which I could share, but I don't
think that's valuable toeveryone.

(12:41):
I think we just need it inlittle bite sizes that we can
apply that, uh, to our own flock.
If you have experienced dry PXor wet PX, I would love to know
you can send us an email.
You can give us, send us a DM onInstagram at wi with the wonder,
hand.com.
We are also on Pinterest.
We are on, uh, TikTok.

(13:02):
And we also have a blog, whichis blog dot Wil with the wonder,
hand.com.
And we're gonna be posting allthese articles in long form.
So instead of listening, justlistening on our podcast, you
can also go read them and wewill be sharing pictures and
lots of other details.
We would appreciate it.
If you would, uh, leave us areview or share this with a

(13:24):
friend, it does help usimmensely.
And it means a whole lot to us.
And until next time y'all byey'all.
I'm Mel.
And.