6 Week old chick with odd eye issue...

[sara1226]

I have a 6 week old chick that has been struggling to grow. I will include a picture of her next to her sister. They are same breed, same age. For weeks now she has been scratching at her eye, and now today I see that it is strange looking. It looks huge compared to the other eye. She was Mareks vaccinated at one day old. I had a verified case of Mareks on my property two years ago, but it was NOT the ocular strain. Can the other strain turn into the ocular strain? It seems unlikely to me. I also have seen in pictures that ocular Mareks causes misshapen pupils. Her pupil looks big and round to me, not abnormal. Can anyone tell me what might be going on with her eye please??

 

[sara1226]

Size comparison...

 

[flytie]

I have no clue what is happening, but I would like to learn. Bumping for more knowledgable people to see and help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a 6 week old chick that has been struggling to grow. I will include a picture of her next to her sister. They are same breed, same age. For weeks now she has been scratching at her eye, and now today I see that it is strange looking. It looks huge compared to the other eye. She was Mareks vaccinated at one day old. I had a verified case of Mareks on my property two years ago, but it was NOT the ocular strain. Can the other strain turn into the ocular strain? It seems unlikely to me. I also have seen in pictures that ocular Mareks causes misshapen pupils. Her pupil looks big and round to me, not abnormal. Can anyone tell me what might be going on with her eye please??

@Eggcessive ? @casportpony ?

Hopefully someone else can take a look, but personally, since she seems to have stunted growth, my "guess" would be a developmental/genetic disorder.

Watch to see that she is drinking well and that she eats her chick starter. You can add poultry vitamins to her water a couple of times a week - find one that has Vitamin A and E in it.

If the eye is irritating - it may be drying out(?) you can rinse with saline to help her out and apply an ophthalmic ointment to help keep it moist. Vetericyn makes an eye gel/ointment that you can usually find at the feed store. A vet may be able to give you a script or advise which OTC product would be best.

Without testing, there is no way to completely confirm if the disorder is caused by disease.

FWIW Marek's vaccine only prevents the formation of tumors, it does not prevent infection of the virus - so birds can still develop symptoms.

Marek's:
http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/AG_Poultry_2013-01pr.pdf

Eye disorders:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps031

 

[Eggcessive]

Wyorp Rock has given you excellent advice. I have not seen this sort of eye problem, but I would think scratching it or getting pecked in the eye has caused some of the damage. The eye gel or drops are a good suggestion. Terramycin eye ointment is available at feed stores as well if you ask for it. I also agree that the chick probably has something congenital keeping it from growing. Occular Mareks is just one of the 4 types of Mareks, and any chicken with Mareks can get one or more of those 4 types. Chicks vaccinated as day olds need 2-3 weeks to develop full immunity, and if exposed to that environment, they may still get symptoms. It is spread in dust and dander, and that can rmain in the environment up to years. Chickens in Mareks positive flocks can get the disease, but should not develop the tumors associated with the disease.

 

[sara1226]

Thank you for the replies. I had done a lot of research a couple of years ago when I had a case of Mareks on my property. I called many different veterinary doctors, veterinary lab technicians, others who had Mareks, even the companies that manufacture the Mareks vaccine. Even though I had a case of Mareks here, it was NOT the ocular strain. The incubation period for Mareks is anywhere from 3 weeks to 7 months generally speaking. I noticed this eye problem just a few days after I brought the chick home from the breeder. I don't think there was even enough time for this chick to catch the virus and show symptoms that fast. The breeder has not seen anything like this before. At first the chick was just scratching at it like it was itchy a lot, and now a few weeks later it has progressed to this weird enlargement. Maybe it is an infection behind the eye? Some sort of defect? It's so strange.

 

[sara1226]

Anyone else have any thoughts or seen anything like this before??

 

[Eggcessive]

I really don't think it is a matter of an ocular strain. There are different strains of Mareks, but any of them can cause the ocular form, the neural form, the skin form, or the visceral (internal) form. I know it takes at least 3 weeks for Mareks symptoms to show up in an affected chicken. I don't think this looks like ocular Mareks,but the disease could be a reason the chick has problems with growing. It may not be an issue at all. Only a necropsy would tell. This just looks like some sort of eye trauma.