Has anyone ever had a chicken survive ocular marek's?

[MaggieP]

Wow! That's extremely rare. I've had mareks in my flock for almost three years, and the latest mortality has been 20 weeks! I'm very sorry that your flock is going through this, and I hope that your bird doesn't get worse.

This is Baraca. I've been worried she's next. She is so much smaller than the others but maybe it's just her breed. Her poop has been weird the last few days and I feel like her eyes are starting to look tired. She is about 21-22 wks old.

 

[saltandpepper2]

This is Baraca. I've been worried she's next. She is so much smaller than the others but maybe it's just her breed. Her poop has been weird the last few days and I feel like her eyes are starting to look tired. She is about 21-22 wks old.

It's really odd that yours are showing symptoms later on in age. Is there anything that could be compromising their immune system? Mareks has a tendency to be an opportunist. A good symptom that a bird is dying from mareks is really greenish, slimy poop. This happened with one of my most serious cases. Her droppings do look odd, is that a type of membrane on top? I remember freaking out the first time i saw what looked like a slimy membrane, and that's exactly what it is, a bit of intestinal lining that comes out.

 

[chickamy]

Thanks MaggieP!

 

[aldarita]

saltandpepper2, thanks for sharing your experience with marek's, it is a big help to learn the details when it comes to keeping an eye around our flock. I have lost 2 girls in mine to marek's, I read all I could find about it in BYC and one of the things I read is that infected birds make bright green poops so now every time I see a bright green poop I freak out, fortunately (touch on wood) I have not lost another one. So you mentioned that this bright green poop is slimy? I wonder if just a regular "healthy looking" bright green poop is just due to something they ate? mmmh so much to watch for.

 

[aldarita]

MaggieP, I do not have words to tell you how sadden I am to hear about baraca, my heart goes with you. Let us hope that she is OK and will pull out. Under all these circumstances you have to toughen up, it was the hardest thing for me to do and believe me it still pains me greatly when I have to make the decision to let them go. I have been keeping chickens for almost 3 years and I have already lost 10 of my girls, every single one of them has a special place in my heart, some of them bigger than the others but a place nevertheless.
My pullet Rosario is a touch and go case, she is recovering from impacted crop, she had sand in it (I have sand in my run and big coop and never had a problem with it before) unfortunately by the time I figured out what was wrong with her and took her to the vet, she had already developed an infection and it is now what we are battling. She just started a course of antibiotics yesterday and I am so hoping that she recovers, however last Thursday it did not look good, I was ready to take her to the vet on Friday to have her put down I just cannot see them suffering but when I went to check on her in the morning, she was doing fine so I decided to keep on nursing her and even though she is losing weight, she still goes on. I am crossing my fingers for her to get well and start getting strong, she is such a sweet girl.

 

[saltandpepper2]

saltandpepper2, thanks for sharing your experience with marek's, it is a big help to learn the details when it comes to keeping an eye around our flock. I have lost 2 girls in mine to marek's, I read all I could find about it in BYC and one of the things I read is that infected birds make bright green poops so now every time I see a bright green poop I freak out, fortunately (touch on wood) I have not lost another one. So you mentioned that this bright green poop is slimy? I wonder if just a regular "healthy looking" bright green poop is just due to something they ate? mmmh so much to watch for.

diet definitely affects the color! for a week my hens had pitch black poop from eating wild cherries! how much greens and insects they eat also affects the color. i wouldn't be too worried as long as there aren't other symptoms to go along with it.

 

[lalaland]

maggieP,

Your hen with the changed eye color may not have mareks. I had mareks diagnosed via necropsy at the univ lab. Two weeks later I noticed a 4 year old hen with one eye changed - grey color. And then her sister a few days later also had a changed eye. I took one of the two to the lab to be euthanized and necropsied and......she DID NOT have mareks! the eye color change wasn't ocular mareks according to the vet at the path lab.

So, take heart, maybe your hen does not have mareks.

Diagnosis of mareks came in my flock Oct 15th of this year. Since then, no deaths - I have 22 hens ranging from 6 months old to 6 years old. About 6 of them are unvaccinated, and were mostly chicks that were hatched in my flock by one of my broodies. I hate the idea that any future hatches might have a high mortality rate. I don't know what I will do next spring when they start going broody again.

I am doing lots of immune support stuff and am always looking for more ways to boost immune systems.

Here's the link to the mareks in the flock not an emergency thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/741957/not-an-emergency-mareks-in-the-flock

 

[MaggieP]

MaggieP, I do not have words to tell you how sadden I am to hear about baraca, my heart goes with you. Let us hope that she is OK and will pull out. Under all these circumstances you have to toughen up, it was the hardest thing for me to do and believe me it still pains me greatly when I have to make the decision to let them go. I have been keeping chickens for almost 3 years and I have already lost 10 of my girls, every single one of them has a special place in my heart, some of them bigger than the others but a place nevertheless. 
My pullet Rosario is a touch and go case, she is recovering from impacted crop, she had sand in it (I have sand in my run and big coop and never had a problem with it before) unfortunately by the time I figured out what was wrong with her and took her to the vet, she had already developed an infection and it is now what we are battling. She just started a course of antibiotics yesterday and I am so hoping that she recovers, however last Thursday it did not look good, I was ready to take her to the vet on Friday to have her put down I just cannot see them suffering but when I went to check on her in the morning, she was doing fine so I decided to keep on nursing her and even though she is losing weight, she still goes on. I am crossing my fingers for her to get well and start getting strong, she is such a sweet girl.

Poor Rosario! I had no idea sand could impact their crop! Gosh chickens are so delicate. I hope so bad she pulls through. I was even thinking about your girl today when I was out with my girls. It's just when you find yourself doing everything right and they still are suffering it's so frustrating to wait and watch. I hung out with mine all day today working on building a new place for nesting boxes that will fair better in the Florida heat (when it comes back). I checked every poop I saw Baraca drop. They looked much better today but she is drinking a LOT of water so her poop was reflecting that. Maybe my Baraca will make it. Please let me know how it goes with Rosario.

 

[MaggieP]

Saltandpepper2,
I have been concerned that there could be things that are making it tougher on them. But I have no idea what else to do for them. They have a super clean area that they sleep in. I pull out the slide that catches their nightly droppings and clean it every morning with a hose. I've noticed since the temperatures have been colder some have been sleeping in the nesting boxes. I clean those out every morning as well and add fresh bedding constantly. I give them fresh water everyday as well as an automatic waterer in their run. They only eat organic chick starter and veggie treats (like kale that I have planted for them) and a little bit of a seed mix that I use to get them all back in the run. I have oyster shell available in the run (I have one laying hen) and a dish with chick grit in it in case they want it. I'm reading information now on probiotics and looking into that as something else I can add.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Saltandpepper2,
I have been concerned that there could be things that are making it tougher on them. But I have no idea what else to do for them. They have a super clean area that they sleep in. I pull out the slide that catches their nightly droppings and clean it every morning with a hose. I've noticed since the temperatures have been colder some have been sleeping in the nesting boxes. I clean those out every morning as well and add fresh bedding constantly. I give them fresh water everyday as well as an automatic waterer in their run. They only eat organic chick starter and veggie treats (like kale that I have planted for them) and a little bit of a seed mix that I use to get them all back in the run. I have oyster shell available in the run (I have one laying hen) and a dish with chick grit in it in case they want it. I'm reading information now on probiotics and looking into that as something else I can add.

Sounds like you are doing a great job, when I tried to save a bird that was dying from mareks, (pepper, from my avatar name) yogurt mixed with high protein feed was about the only thing she would eat, and it perked her up quite a bit. Greek is the best! lol. It sounds like your'e doing everything right. Putting ACV in their water also helps boost their immune system, as does garlic.