Beak necrosis in Hungarian partridges (Perdix perdix) associated with beak-bits and avian poxvirus infection

Proliferative growth, consistent with poxvirus infection, encapsulated plastic beak-bits and covered the dorsal portion of the upper beak and nares of adult male and female captive-raised Hungarian partridges. Three representative birds were submitted to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for necropsy. Lesions in the necropsied birds extended through the nares, where the plastic bit ends are designed to rest. The lesions also variably extended caudally into the oropharynx and cranially within the beak epithelium, and included palate deformity and beak necrosis. Poxvirus was diagnosed in all of the birds examined based on histopathology, electron microscopy, and polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing. This report is the first to describe avian pox lesions associated with the application of beak-bits and the resulting beak and oral pathology.