3 Yr Old Hen Walking on Hocks, Thin

[Kathy Golla]

I am no expert, I am still learning, there is SO much to know about Mareks. I have read that the vaccine doesnt keep birds from getting Mareks, it just keeps birds from dying of the symptoms. It also doesnt mean they wont GET the symptoms, it just wont kill them in most cases.
I suspect she has had Mareks since she was little (the chick incident) but because she is vaccinated she has not died of it.
Has her eye always been like that?
Have you brought in any new birds lately?
I suspect supportive care is best and she is having an outbreak (any stress lately?) and see if her immune system works her out of the limping (neuro form). Im not sure though, we need more expertise.
Microchick has lots of stories.
Get her strength up with some groceries and vitamins.

 

[Kathy Golla]

@orrpeople @Mixed flock enthusiast
Do you have any insight on the questions posed here?
Thank you in advance for your expertise.

 

[Stephine]

The chick incident I am pretty sure was caused by stale feed, and was remedied within a few hours by giving vitamins.
I don’t know if her eye has always been like that - it’s possible, I have not looked at them this closely.
I got three chicks in April, they have been vaccinated.
She is eating special treats, raisins and blueberries, but I haven’t seen her eat her feed. Got some calcium in her too - in case she hasn’t gotten enough oystershell somehow. We‘ll see how she is tomorrow...

 

[Kathy Golla]

Can you post a video tomorrow...is she walking at all?

 

[Stephine]

I don’t think I can take a video of her walking - it’s sporadic.... I‘ll try. She walks on her hocks - it looks a bit like we look when we walk im a crouch like a duck walk: up and down, scooting the legs forward.

 

[Kathy Golla]

OK no worries, don’t stress her out any.

 

[Stephine]

No improvement this morning it looks like... If anything, she took a bit longer to eat the couple of blueberries I just gave her, than yesterday.
What confuses me a bit is that she clearly lost weight before she became lame, not after. Most articles I have read on Mareks say they loose weight because they can’t get to the feed as easily. This one was moving completely normally until yesterday. She ran out of the coop with everyone in the mornings, free ranged part of the day, got back in the coop at night - about a foot high jump - and up on the roost that’s about 2 1/2 feet high.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

@orrpeople @Mixed flock enthusiast
Do you have any insight on the questions posed here?
Thank you in advance for your expertise.

Sorry, hadn’t seen this post until just now, trying to catch up. Have you had any other chickens diagnosed with Marek’s disease? Your signs are weight loss, waking on hocks, irregular pupil shape in one eye? First diagnosis of Marek’s in your flock can be difficult, as Marrk’s Can mimic other diseases. So far it sounds like it could be Marek’s but not necessarily. You can get the disease in vaccinated birds. At three years old, she could have tumors from Marek’s or just cancer in general, which could cause weakness (walking on hocks) and weight loss. If the eye is incidental, if it had happened earlier or was a congenital problem, then you are left with multiple possibilities... If the eye is new-ish (last few months), that makes Marek’s much more likely, IMO.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Thanks so much @Mixed flock enthusiast.
If a bird is vaccinated, can they get the physical symptoms? I thought vaccination doesnt keep birds from contracting the disease, but it keeps them from showing the physical symptoms like neurological, ocular, tumors?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thanks so much @Mixed flock enthusiast.
If a bird is vaccinated, can they get the physical symptoms? I thought vaccination doesnt keep birds from contracting the disease, but it keeps them from showing the physical symptoms like neurological, ocular, tumors?

I’m a herpesvirus researcher in my day job so reviewed some of the scientific literature about Marek’s when our flock came down with it. The real data about it is all on commercial flocks, which aren’t kept around for three years, so you have to read between the lines to apply to backyard flocks. From the scientific literature, vaccination greatly reduces tumors and death over the time period that commercial flock owners care about, which is more like weeks to a year, depending on broiler vs layer flocks. However, some of these birds still develop disease over time, especially with the easiest to use “cell-free” vaccine, which is why I’m using the Rispens vaccine in my flock. There is very little real data about what happens long term, but as animals age, they can become susceptible to a herpesvirus recrudescencing, think geriatric people who get shingles from their old chickenpox infection that they had as a child. So, an older bird can definitely be susceptible to recrudescence of the Marek’s virus and may not fight the virus well enough to prevent tumors and neurological disease. The vaccine helps the bird’s immune system fight the virus and hold it to a low level, but as our immune system ages it works more poorly.

I’m sorry about your hen! Depending on the virus strain and the bird, some people have supported the bird and the virus goes back into a quiescent or latent state. That’s not true for our strain, I’ve tried to save multiple birds and they’ve all died, so my DD and I have agreed that we will cull to end suffering of our future affected birds. However, that’s not everyone’s experience... I think that if tumors form, there’s no going back and they die of cancer, which is what our birds do. Weight loss and muscle wasting occur fast in cancer, it’s not just that they can’t eat as cancer itself causes cachexia...