Dilated eye and unsteadiness

[RCL]

I'm sorry about your chicken. Some of the symptoms you've described sounds like Marek's disease - a virus. It's a common problem apparently. If you see these symptoms again in another chicken - separate the chicken from the others. In mild cases of this disease, I have seen raw garlic make a huge difference! Garlic is anti-viral and anti bacterial...and it helps just about everything going on inside a chicken...

@ChickensRsmart thank you for the info! Mareks definitely seems possible given the symptoms. Supposedly she was vaccinated against it, but I read that the vaccine isn’t foolproof. Thankfully I’ve seen no similar signs in our other 3 chickens, but I will be very watchful!

 

[Birdsonghill]

I know this is an old post but wanted to follow up on vax failures. I have all my new chicks vaccinated for Mareks and coccidiosis. However, just recently lost two 8 month old hens to Mareks.

 

[RCL]

I know this is an old post but wanted to follow up on vax failures. I have all my new chicks vaccinated for Mareks and coccidiosis. However, just recently lost two 8 month old hens to Mareks.

I’m so sorry to hear that! The more I have learned about chicken keeping, the more certain I am that she did have Mareks. She passed at around 1yr old which seems a little older than usual, but, not impossible. I hope the rest of your flock will be able to thrive despite the virus!

 

[Birdsonghill]

So far so good! I separated the sick hens asap. I have one hen that is in quarantine now. The vaccinations will protect the rest of the flock is my hope. They all are still looking good and laying eggs weeks after the Mareks first struck the two hens. I have not been officially diagnosed by a lab but strongly believe this is in fact Mareks, that has sickened the birds.