Is this Ocular Mareks?

[WhitneyM]

The white chicken suddenly became mostly blind with cloudy pupils. I was seriously hoping it was cataracts. But now the black chicken is doing the same thing. So I suspect Mareks. It’s a grow out pen away from my big girls. Any advice?

 

[Eggcessive]

The last picture looks like ocular Mareks to me. Is the pupil of the black chicken round or irregular? Have you seen any other symptoms of possible Mareks?

 

[WhitneyM]

Both their pupils are pretty round. It’s super hard to catch with light reflecting off of it. Black one has round pupils. No other symptoms except the white one might have her tail feathers down a bit and isn’t as active. But I wouldn’t say she is lethargic either. She walks around all day.

 

[Susan Skylark]

There is some sort of infiltrate causing cloudiness in your chickens’ cornea, mareks is certainly a rule out but also consider pus (hypopyon), increased pressure (glaucoma), cataracts, nuclear sclerosis (common age related change in old dogs, not sure if there is a bird equivalent!), or various other causes. Very few disease processes have a singular symptom by which you can identify it. Consider the most common or likely causes for a particular symptom and narrow it down by treatment and or testing.

 

[WhitneyM]

There is some sort of infiltrate causing cloudiness in your chickens’ cornea, mareks is certainly a rule out but also consider pus (hypopyon), increased pressure (glaucoma), cataracts, nuclear sclerosis (common age related change in old dogs, not sure if there is a bird equivalent!), or various other causes. Very few disease processes have a singular symptom by which you can identify it. Consider the most common or likely causes for a particular symptom and narrow it down by treatment and or testing.

Thank you. They are pullets and I’m really hoping it’s cataracts. Possibly a vitamin e deficiency? I am going to get one tested for mareks to rule it out.

 

[Eggcessive]

The third picture down in the first post looks irregular. It may just be the position, since the others look mostly round. Mareks makes the pupil appear irregular.

 

[Eggcessive]

Vitamin E or A deficiency, ammonia fumes, past exposure to avian encephalomyelitis, and cataracts are the usual reasons for cloudy pupils.

 

[WhitneyM]

The third picture down in the first post looks irregular. It may just be the position, since the others look mostly round. Mareks makes the pupil appear irregular.
View attachment 3899442

Yes I took the the second pictures because it did look irregular in that pic but wasn’t. Although, it’s not super outlined like the one on the left. But no irregularities like the one on the right.

 

[WhitneyM]

Vitamin E or A deficiency, ammonia fumes, past exposure to avian encephalomyelitis, and cataracts are the usual reasons for cloudy pupils.

I will start them on Vitamin E today. I would rather that than Mareks! Although the encephalomyelitis doesn’t look great either.

 

[Aoife123]

Hey did you ever figure out is you have mareks in your flock? I have two young legbar hens with small and/or large and misshapen pupils. One is nearly blind and the other is starting to have difficulty seeing aswell she a little bit skittish because she can't see great. The hen that is nearly blind only ever layed 2 or 2 eggs and stopped laying completely. There was some blood from her vent around this time and she had anybiotics and xrays etc and nothing worked. She has ever since had this thing where her vent is pulsating and a slight dirty bum all the time. Sleeps a little more often than the other and roosts earlier. The second hen lost a lot of Weight very quickly and I thought she might have an impacted crop as it wasn't emptying fully overnight. After the vet seen her she thought maybe mareks and that she would die but she started to put weight back on and is still going. She hasnt started laying again either. It seems that there is very little known about occular mareks. Everything I can find about occular mareks is that it affects the eyes bit I wonder if there are tumors elsewhere aswell affecting their ability to lay. The blind hen layed one shelless egg the other day that's all she has done in months. I wonder if their can be two types of mareks infecting a hen at one time? One legbar usually stays with the other. I picked up the almost blind legbar the other day to have a smell of her breath as I thought she might have had sour crop. The other legbar ran over to me fairly confrontationally as if to protect the other hen. I've never seen that with hen before. I wonder if they have tumors growing away inside that they will eventually succum to and I wonder if they are in pain. I watch them like a hawk and although they look to be getting by fairly well they are just always a little off. I wonder if all my un vaccinated birds will eventually go the same way. I'd like to hear from someone that know they have occular mareks in their flock to see how things play out