Pecked, or Pox?

Pecked, or Pox?

  • Pecked Comb

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Fowl Pox

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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    0
Apr 14, 2024
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Hampton Roads, Virginia
This is Kowalski, my six month old Black Copper Marans chicken nemesis. Another chicken can lay an egg next to her and she'll ignore it, but if she sees me reaching for it, she'll fight me for it and break it, if she can get to it first. She also has developed a taste for my fingers. She is a jerk.
However much of a butthead she is to me, I still hope she isn't sick.
Does this look like fowl pox or just her comeuppance from other chickens? I haven't seen any swelling or white blisters on her comb. This is the second time in the last two months that she's had these marks on her comb, and now that I (sadly can't unsee) know what fowl pox is, I'm worried that she may have it.
She's only been laying for about two weeks, now. She has five other flock mates (BCMs, EEs & a PBE). She has access to grit & oyster shell bits, and eats a mix of Kallenbach layer feed and 22% protein Nutrena crumbles. Her bedding is pine shavings that are shop vac'd out & changed out for fresh ones every 1.5 - 2 weeks. She's eating & drinking just fine. Luckily for her, she lays pretty, chocolatey, speckled eggs.
What do you guys think? Pecked, or pox?
 

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Just looks like she's been getting picked on.
I would melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil and on her comb. It'll moisturize her comb and help it heal quicker.
 
Just looks like she's been getting picked on.
I would melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil and on her comb. It'll moisturize her comb and help it heal quicker.
While I would Like to help her feel better, I must point out the part where I mentioned how very much she enjoys attacking my fingers and generally lives for making my days difficult.
🤔 If I could put coconut oil into a squirt bottle and mist her comb with it (without getting it in her eyes), I would, but even if I Could find chicken goggles, my digits wouldn't survive getting them on her, and the other chickens would mock her relentlessly, thereby increasing her hatred of me.
It'd be kinda like trying to give a cat a pill, then dressing it in an ugly Christmas sweater. No insurance company will cover that.
 
Interesting. I've never heard of these. They look painful, but claim to be safe & harmless. Have you tried them?? I'm wondering if that hen couldn't harass others, they wouldn't feel the need to attack her.
Then again, she couldn't defend herself if they were attacking because They were the instigators.. 🤔🙄 Ugh! I'm not sure what to do... Their (much larger) run is almost finished and we're moving them into a new coop& run setup. Maybe having more room will help, hopefully. I'll keep that bookmarked, though! Thank you!
 
When she pecks you, peck her back with your fingers gently but firmly. If she keeps at it, hold her down or pick her up and hold her until she calms down. It may take a bit but she should get the idea. Personally I just wait until my girls are out of the nestbox before gathering eggs as I'll have to come back for the one she laid anyways and I certainly wouldn't want to be disturbed either if I was her, but that's just me
 
When she pecks you, peck her back with your fingers gently but firmly. If she keeps at it, hold her down or pick her up and hold her until she calms down. It may take a bit but she should get the idea. Personally I just wait until my girls are out of the nestbox before gathering eggs as I'll have to come back for the one she laid anyways and I certainly wouldn't want to be disturbed either if I was her, but that's just me
Thank you. Yes, that'd be absolutely fair (not messing about with their nests while they're in them), if it Only happens when I'm near her nesting area, but she comes after me whenever she sees me, or me going after Any eggs (not just hers). For a bit, I had thought it was my sparkly nail polish (all my chickens love sparkly stuff), but after I cleaned my polish off, she still attacks my fingers. I may try your suggestion of picking her up and holding her until she calms down.
I actually Have been pecking her back for a while, now. 😏 A couple of times, we looked like a Three Stooges slap scene, going back and forth three or four times, but I backed out first each time, as the other chickens started encroaching on the scene and I didn't want to end up in some headline, "Woman attacked and eaten by her own flock".
I may have been watching too many ridiculous movies, lately. 🙄🫣🤦🏼‍♀️
 
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to treat an animal, wrap her in a towel when you restrain her and that will help with wings and legs. Wearing gloves will help when she pecks your hand. From there you should be able to easily treat her head area, esp if you have a 2nd person.

You should see what we have to do with cats when they wanted to kill us vets, yet we had to give them treatment that would save their lives. I wore leather gloves you'd see people train hawks with and I'd roll em up in a towel.
 

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