2 year old hen, pupils not the same, strange drifting neck movement

[MisaF]

My friend’s hen is displaying some very weird symptoms. See video:

She is about 2-3 year old. Rather sudden onset. Seems to be completely blind now as well. Pupils are different sizes, one eye she keeps closing, and she has a weird drifting in her neck. I’m wondering if it could be marek’s? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I hesitate to get too involved in case it is marek’s as I don’t want to put my hens at risk.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Can you get still pics of that eye from the video?

 

[Redbrew]

Sorry to hear it for your girl. So... sometimes respiratory illness affects the eyes, but if you aren't seeing any bubbling/foam around her eyes/nares nor hearing any respiratory symptoms, may be mareks.

We have had mareks on our property since we moved in, so nothing we can do about it and I've lost a lot of birds randomly to it over the past 10 years. I have seen all manner of early symptoms, including what appeared to be blindness, but I don't recall if that hen had pupils doing weird things. Her blindness appeared behaviorally, like standing at a wall and not moving, not responsive to hand movements. For me the first major indication that leans to mareks is if they stop being able to target and peck at food, as if they see it and try but like their depth perception is off and they miss. If your girl was just not seeing because of illness, but had full use of herself neurologically, she'd figure out how to eat even if she couldn't see. She'd learn and adapt. But with Mareks, they are losing neurological function so even if she's intending to land the peck and trying to eat ... the nerves are affected and aren't successful. I find the eating difficulty to be a pretty reliable sign of early symptoms before seeing spasms or other big neuro signs.
Best wishes.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd say from what I can see that she has reduced vision for sure, but can't say whether or not it's Ocular Marek's.

If you can get some clear photos of each eye that may be helpful.


Here's some photos of Ocular Marek's.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ocular-mareks-with-pics.1587096/post-26970258

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mareks-disease.1667605/

... you will find this picture of a hen with ocular (eye) symptoms of Marek's disease.

I hope this hlps.