My Cochin has fowl pox and just had her babies

[wonderlandfly]

Foxl pox has been running around in one of my coops lately.
Unfortunately my chicken Megan caught it and has had it about a week and a half/ 2 weeks or so. Unfortunately her babies just hatched today and they have been with her a couple of hours. I really hate to seperate her from her babies, but would that be the best thing to do? What should I do?

 

[wonderlandfly]

Hey eyes are open and everything, Megan just seems to mostly have some black bumps at this time

 

[DLA]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-graphic-pictures-under-construction.47704/

Chicks can be vaccinated. That may be the best course of action.

 

[wonderlandfly]

Ok thank you

 

[DLA]

Ok thank you

I know it isn't pleasant to have to deal with this. I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

@wonderlandfly, how has everything turned out? I currently have the pox in my flock, and I’m wondering if the best course of action is culling my broody’s eggs so they don’t get infected. But if everything has worked out for you, I may let her hatch the eggs!!

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think there is much you can do. They may have already been exposed, and it is too early to vaccinate them. Chickens usually need to be 8 weeks old for the vaccine. I really like when broodies raise chicks, so I would try and let them stay with her. Chicks tend to get a few very swollen scabs, and those can make it hard to see or be near their nostrils. Look for any signs of wet pox—yellow lesions or plaques inside their beaks—which is a more serious form of pox. Most chickens recover from fowl pox in 3-4 weeks.

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

I don’t think there is much you can do. They may have already been exposed, and it is too early to vaccinate them. Chickens usually need to be 8 weeks old for the vaccine. I really like when broodies raise chicks, so I would try and let them stay with her. Chicks tend to get a few very swollen scabs, and those can make it hard to see or be near their nostrils. Look for any signs of wet pox—yellow lesions or plaques inside their beaks—which is a more serious form of pox. Most chickens recover from fowl pox in 3-4 weeks.

Thank you very much for replying to me! My broody hasn’t actually hatched the eggs yet, and I’m wondering if I should cull the eggs before they hatch. Should I? Or will they very likely survive and thrive if I let them hatch?

 

[Eggcessive]

This far along, I would let them hatch. When chickens get pox, they develop natural immunity to it in the future.

 

[wonderlandfly]

@wonderlandfly, how has everything turned out? I currently have the pox in my flock, and I’m wondering if the best course of action is culling my broody’s eggs so they don’t get infected. But if everything has worked out for you, I may let her hatch the eggs!!

Hey so I couldn’t leave the mom with them more then a week and a half because she was a new mom and was being a little to violent with them while foraging for food, but while the babies were with her, nobody came down with pox and I think by adding electrolytes in the water and having medicated chick feed, it greatly helped them a lot with their immune systems, so I don’t think you have to cull the eggs. I also noticed even though a lot of my adult outdoor flock did end up getting Avian pox, it doesn’t seem to be contagious the whole gestation it is on the bird, so even though your bird is infected, the time the baby chicks finally come out of their eggs can be when she is no longer spreading it and simply just has the scab marks.