Fowl Pox

Whilst the disease itself is not necessarily life threatening it is a very painful condition and one that is hard to remove from a holding.

Cause

Fowl pox is caused by a pox virus and mostly affects chickens. There is also a pigeon pox virus and a turkey pox virus.

There are three possible ways in which the virus can be spread:

• Commonly, the virus is shed from Fowl pox wounds on affected birds and enters its next victim through skin wounds. (Normal healthy skin will act as an effective barrier to Fowl pox virus).
• Biting insects can carry the virus from one bird to another.
• Pox viruses that infect mammals can be spread through the air and it is thought that this may be a way for Fowl pox to be transmitted

Once in the skin, the virus reproduces to cause ‘pocks’. These start off as raised areas which then burst releasing a tiny amount of pus to leave scab-like crusted raised areas,

Vaccination

The demand for vaccination of backyard flock has increased with the popularity of keeping chickens.

Why should we vaccinate?

Vaccination is commonly used in commercial poultry and increasingly in backyard birds to control disease. Vaccines mimic natural infection, allowing the birds to build up immunity to the disease without any of the harmful effects. This way you can prevent your birds getting the disease.

Are there any problems with vaccination?

No vaccine can be 100% effective, if the birds are vaccinated but exposed to large levels of the wild disease then the immunity generated by the vaccine can be overcome. Also many diseases, such as Infectious Bronchitis