LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Backyard chicken owners in the Las Vegas Valley are monitoring their flocks as fowl pox cases rise alongside mosquito season. One North Las Vegas owner says 40 of her chickens got infected.
Linzy Stahl said she first noticed a small spot on one of her birds before the virus spread quickly through her flock.
“I noticed a teeny tiny white spot in the comb of one of my birds — I didn’t think a whole lot of it until I saw it on somebody else, and very quickly it went from a yellowish spot to a scab,” Stahl said.
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What fowl pox does
Infected birds develop scabs that require cleaning and eye ointment. Stahl said most of her flock has recovered, but one bird has been hit the hardest.
Fowl pox is typically not deadly, but Dr. Bryan Kenton, owner of Flamingo Pet Clinic, said a second strain poses a greater risk.
“There’s two forms — the wet version, meaning it can get to the respiratory system of the birds,” Kenton said. “We don’t see that often — that’s the version that can have a higher mortality rate.”
The mosquito connection
The virus can transfer through insects that bite an infected bird and then bite another. Kenton said the rise in mosquitoes this season is a contributing factor.
“Absolutely, it’s a factor with something like this for sure — so you want to control the water around your house, no standing water,” Kenton said.
No cure, but immunity follows
Stahl said infected birds will build immunity after recovering.
“They will build an immunity to it once they get it and they won’t get it again,” Stahl said.
Stahl has quarantined the birds that have not been infected and is treating those that are at home with ointments and cleans the scabs twi
Kenton said there is no cure for fowl pox, leaving backyard chicken owners to monitor symptoms and wait out the illness.
A vaccine is available at local feed stores, though it is typically administered when birds are chicks.
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