Ocular Mareks?

RosemaryRoo

In the Brooder
Jun 3, 2016
11
0
12
Texas
I was given 5 hens from a neighbor and 3 of them (one pure white and two golden) have blue eyes. This one has slightly irregular pupils and the other two have the same eye color but I haven't been able to check out their pupils. Does this look like mareks and if so should I be worried since three of them have eyes like this?
400
 
I am, I have two different coops. I only have one hen and one rooster, and now these guys. I am curious about it because she is not the only one with that color eyes. I'm not sure if that color is a fairly common eye color but from what I have read it isn't.
 
Anyway you can get a closeup photo of the eye?

Blue eyes could be just genetics, which is a subject that I don't know much about.
Are you questioning that the eye color as an indication of Marek's?
Any other symptoms - unsteadiness, weight loss, not eating/drinking, etc?

Your doing the right thing by keeping new birds separated and quarantined.



http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/90/mareks-disease/
 
Last edited:
The only other thing that would make make me think it is mareks is her pupil is irregular. They are all acting fine besides some funny watery poop.
The white hen in the photo is pure white and her comb is almost white like a very light pink, and she has pale blue eyes. I have never seen a hen like her before, it took me by surprise when I saw her.
 
The only other thing that would make make me think it is mareks is her pupil is irregular. They are all acting fine besides some funny watery poop.
The white hen in the photo is pure white and her comb is almost white like a very light pink, and she has pale blue eyes. I have never seen a hen like her before, it took me by surprise when I saw her.
Irregular pupil is one of the signs of Ocular Marek's.

She looks fairly young, since the comb has not developed yet. I'm thinking she may be a white leghorn or possibly a white rock, but don't count on me for that, I'm not great at identifying breeds.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/153087/whats-the-difference-between-white-rock-and-white-leghorn

Do the other chickens that you got have the same eye color and are they different breeds.

If she does have ocular Marek's then it's possible she could become blind. It's also contagious and affected birds are considered carriers for life. This puts you in a hard place to make a decision as what to do, whether to keep them and risk infecting your existing flock, sacrifice one for necropsy, give them back, etc. There are several threads here on BYC about keeping closed flocks with Marek's, it really depends on what your goals are, if you are wanting to give away/sell chicks, hatching eggs, etc., the possibility of introducing the illness to someone else's flock would need to be considered.

Have you talked to your neighbor about your concerns?
 
400


400


These are the two that I am concerned about. They both have slightly irregular pupils and almost the same color eyes. I haven't yet had a chance to talk to him about it, but he hasn't ever said that he has had any problems with his flock. They are fairly young, about 8 weeks or so.
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom