Gray Eye

[KikiLeigh02]

A friend of mine has a 16 week old bird, he showed me a picture of him and I know he is sick by looking at him. He was hunched down, his comb was pale, the base of his comb closest to his beak looks completely colorless. What really worries me is his eye though, his pupil looks irregular and there is a gray ring around the outside. Is Marek's the only thing that would cause that? I'm not really familiar with chicken diseases yet.

 

[rebrascora]

Marek's is by far the commonest cause of such symptoms especially in a bird of that age. The fact that the bird is also looking sick with other issues indicates that this is more than just an ocular issue which again suggests Marek's

 

[Wyorp Rock]

A friend of mine has a 16 week old bird, he showed me a picture of him and I know he is sick by looking at him. He was hunched down, his comb was pale, the base of his comb closest to his beak looks completely colorless. What really worries me is his eye though, his pupil looks irregular and there is a gray ring around the outside. Is Marek's the only thing that would cause that? I'm not really familiar with chicken diseases yet.

Can you post photos of the eye and the chicken?

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Thank you. I know there isn't any cure but is there anything he can do to help him? He has some chicks under a broody that are due to hatch on the 15th. Is it a death sentence for them? I'll ask if he can send me a photo.

 

[alexa009]

I don't think it's such a good idea to hatch the offspring of a chicken with Mareks disease, but that is just my opinion.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

I wouldn't either, but he already had these eggs under his broody before he realized the little guy was sick. I gave him the fertile eggs for his broody, as far as I know all of my birds are completely healthy. He said his adults are showing no symptoms.

I don't think it's such a good idea to hatch the offspring of a chicken with Mareks disease, but that is just my opinion.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

When I text him to see if he would send me that photo he told me he just buried him. I told him he probably should have waited and sent him in for analysis, but I did not have it in me to suggest he dig him up.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Here he is.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That reminds me of a THREAD I saw a while back. @Eggcessive helped with that one. Look into Coloboma?

Too bad he already buried the cockerel, getting a necropsy would be the only way to know for sure what was causing his symptoms. There are so many things that affect chickens-it could have been anything from Marek's to genetic defect or Coccidiosis. If he has another one get sick or have similar symptoms in a short period of time, sending the bird to your State Lab would be a very good idea.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Thank you! I already made sure he knows, hopefully none of the other birds get sick. He only has 2 adults right now, and then the one broody has some eggs that if everything goes well will hatch around 7/15.