FIGHTING FOWL POX? THE EXPERT ADVICE YOU NEED TO PROTECT YOUR POULTRY
Fighting fowl Pox? The Expert Advice You Need To Protect Your Poultry
Fowl pox, like all other poultry diseases, can be very devastating to your poultry farm. So, if you think your chicken is suffering from fowl pox, this article is for you. Even if your bird does not suffer from fowl pox, this guide will help you identify the source of this disease. After all, acquiring the necessary knowledge in raising poultry is very important for success.
Therefore, learning about fowl pox is not a bad idea. This article will explain what fow pox is, its causes, symptoms and possible treatments. With the things you learn in this guide, you will be able to quickly diagnose fowl pox. This way, you can resolve the situation before things get out of hand.
What is fowl pox?
Fowl pox is a viral disease that affects the skin of chickens, especially those without feathers. This disease can occur in all birds regardless of their age, especially during the rainy season. It usually enters the chicken through open wounds on the chicken. When this disease affects your chickens, it causes sores that appear on the chicken’s comb, wattles and beak.
What causes fowl pox and how is it spread?
1. Mosquitoes are the main cause of fowl pox:
Biting mosquitoes are the main cause of avian pox. Mosquitoes suck blood from infected chickens from other fields or farms and transfer it to your flock. They can infect your chickens because after eating infected birds, they can keep the virus in their salivary glands for up to eight weeks.
2. Introduction of an infected bird in the flocked:
Another way your chickens can contract avian pox is by placing infected birds in the flock. When birds mix with other chickens in the flock, they can also become infected.
Read also:MAREK’S DISEASE; CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION TIPS
3. Open wound, mucus, pecking, feather dander, etc. :
Pox virus can be spread through wounds, nose, feather, etc. When a healthy bird comes into contact with these things, it can become infected.
4. Chickens can become infected by ingesting the fowl pox scabs:
Once the bird’s scales fall off the infected chicken, another chicken can mistakenly contract the disease and spread it. Therefore, it is best to immediately remove all infected birds from the rest of the flock to save your chickens.
5. Human vectors:
Allowing anyone in your chicken coop can spread the disease to your farm. Without proper health protection, people can spread disease to your farm through their shoes, clothing or equipment used for infected chickens.
6. Stress in chickens can cause fowl pox:
When your chickens are stressed, they can get all kinds of chicken diseases.
This is because their bodies are not strong enough to fight these viruses. In addition, although some chickens are immune after a certain period of time, others are able to recover in times of stress.
What are the symptoms of fowl pox?
Birds with this condition often exhibit a variety of discomforts that may include the following:
1. Chickens tend to develop poor growth:
fowl pox disrupts the normal function of the chicken’s body. Because of this virus, their growth can be delayed.
2. Poor feed conversion:
Fowl pox, especially watery pox, can cause sores on the chicken’s mouth.
As a result, chickens may not be able to eat properly and digest food. This often results in unhealthy diet changes and weight loss
3. Injuries on the body of the chickens:
Fowl pox causes many sores and abrasions.
open wound and cuts will often appear on areas of the chicken that are not covered by feathers, for example the beak, comb, wattles and sometimes the legs.
4. poor egg production:
If you are laying hens, then you will see a decrease in egg production. Generally, egg production is affected when chickens are sick, avian pox is no exception.
5. Lack of appetite:
With many sores and sores around the beak, it is difficult for chickens with fowl pox to eat.
As a result, it reduces their appetite for food and water, thus making them lose weight. These symptoms persist for weeks in birds and months in flocks.
However, death can occur if the oral cavity or airways are involved.
What are the preventive measures to combat the spread of fowl pox?
To prevent or avoid the spread of this disease among your poultry, please register them in your thought.
We now know that mosquitoes are the main cause of bird pox.
1. Ensure that poultry house is always clean.
Make sure there is no standing water near your chicken coop.
Discard grass and dirty water that can attract mosquitoes far from the coop.
2. Follow strict biosecurity measures:
You can prevent the spread of fowl pox by following strict biosecurity measures on your farm. Make sure everyone entering the farm is properly disinfected.
For added confidence, equip yourself with special clothes, shoes and other equipment that you only use in your poultry farm.
3. quarantine sick chickens quickly:
It is a good practice to have quarantine units in your chicken coop at all times. Therefore, when a bird is sick, you can quickly remove it from the flock and prevent others from contracting it.
4. Control the spread of harmful insects:
Insects, after perching on an infected bird, can spread the disease to other chickens.
The presence of biting insects, especially mosquitoes, is due to long-term storage of dirty water. Mosquitoes can lay eggs there, increasing their numbers and carrying it from one chicken to another.
You can control these pests by spraying around the garden. You can also use non-lethal insecticides to repel mosquitoes from the farm.
5. Vaccinate your chickens regularly:
Vaccinating your chicken helps to strengthen the immune system in the fight against this disease. Just be sure to follow a strict vaccination schedule as prescribed by your veterinarian.
In addition, if you do not know how to give the fowl pox vaccine, you can call a veterinarian.
Read also:SHOULD I GIVE MY CHICKENS GARLIC?
What are the possible treatments for avian pox?
There is no specific treatment for fowl pox, but there are some relief measures you can take for affected chickens.
1. Administration of tetracycline:
You can give sick chickens tetracycline antibiotics in water. In addition, you should give them vitamin supplements.
2. Treat scabies with diluted iodine solution:
Often, avian pox causes sores and injuries in birds.
You can clean the bird’s wounds with iodine solution so that they heal faster.
3. Add ointment to soften:
You can apply an ointment such as bacitracin or neosporin to the wound to soften the swelling. This will help prevent dry skin from tearing the chicken’s skin and causing injury.
4. Mix iodine in water:
By mixing a concentrated iodine solution into the herd’s drinking water, it helps to strengthen the herd.
You should give your bird this solution every day until the outbreak stops.
5. Feed chickens with vitamins supplements:
To help strengthen the immune system, give them vitamin supplements. Strengthening the immune system of chickens helps them fight the disease.
Vitamins like A, B, D, and E will help stimulate their respiratory system and promote faster healing.
6. Give chicken antibiotics:
Antibiotics are good for treating and preventing some types of bacterial infections. Applying them to chickenpox will prevent further infection.
You can also treat it naturally. watch video bellow.
What are the two types of avian pox?
There are two types of fowl pox and either of them can affect your chickens.
These are cutaneous (cutaneous) fowl pox and wet (diphtheritic) fowl pox. Your bird can contract both types of disease at the same time.
In addition, it is always possible for individual birds to transmit both the dry and wet forms of fowl pox. When your chickens contract this disease (in any form), it will lead to loss of appetite, weight loss, and reduced egg production.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the two types of avian pox…
1. Dry or cutaneous fowl pox:
This is the most common type of fowl pox that affects chickens. Chickens with dry avian pox often have sores on the head, legs and body without feathers. A lesion is an area of ​​skin that grows or looks abnormal compared to the surrounding skin. Lesions begin as small sores and continue to grow as warts on the skin of any non-feathered area (face, comb, wattles, eyelids, feet, and legs).
How is dry fowl pox form?
Developing dry fowl pox begins with a wart-like growth that appears as a small yellow spot on the featherless area of ​​the chicken.
These wart-like growths continue to increase in size over time, often changing color as they get larger. It reaches the point where the color turns brown, forming dry crusts that appear hard.
Scabies usually stay for about 2 to 4 weeks on the chicken and go away on their own. If a growth appears around the chicken’s eye, the eyelid can be closed tightly until the scabies fall off.
The scab that drop off often contains poxvirus and is highly contagious to other birds in the flock. Therefore, although birds with dry pox can recover in 2 to 4 weeks, the recovery of the entire flock can take several weeks or months.
This is because the avian pox virus spreads slowly in flocks.
2. Wet or diphtheria fowl pox:
Wet avian pox is more deadly than dry avian pox. A fowl pox infection in your flock can easily lead to the death of chickens on your farm.
Wet pox causes damage to the throat and respiratory tract in your chickens. It usually starts as a small white nodule, then develops into a large spot like cheesy, or growth
These growths can be so severe that it interferes with eating, drinking and breathing. A severe case of pox can result in the death of affected birds.
Watch video here:
