Maraks....??

[Sussex19]

So about a year and a half ago, I had some cockerels that lost the use of their legs. About a week later, they were all fine again and all but one got butchered when they were big enough.
I kept one of up till recently do see if any symptoms came back, which they never did. I then butchered it, and as far as I could tell, everything inside look good.
So I was happy that as far as I could tell, I did not have maraks, and it was maybe mold or something that caused the issue. (I have also hatched a lot of chicks without a problem)
But recently one of my hens looks to have gone blind in one eye. She keeps it closed most of the time, and the pupil does not dilate; and its a bit grey looking.
To me, it looks rather like ocular maraks, but I'm so hoping its not.
Is ocular maraks caused by the same virus as the other maraks? And is there anything else that could cause the eye problem? She seems healthy in every other way.
Testing it not really possible, unfortunately.
I can get a photo a bit later, if it would help.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Merak's as it spelt is a very nasty disease will kill all in the end.
Best case put one in a freezer send to your state veterinary lab.
They are able to test hope this may help.
May have bird flu where you are located.

 

[Sussex19]

Merak's as it spelt is a very nasty disease will kill all in the end.
Best case put one in a freezer send to your state veterinary lab.
They are able to test hope this may help.

I'm in Australia, and testing is not straight forward. It has to be done though a vet, and our vet does not want to, and my dad thinks its to expensive ):
Thanks for the spelling correction!
And I am very puzzled, because I'm not really losing them, yet it seems like there might be something there.

 

[Sussex19]

Oh, and there is no bird flu in the country, so thats one less thing to worry about.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So about a year and a half ago, I had some cockerels that lost the use of their legs. About a week later, they were all fine again and all but one got butchered when they were big enough.
I kept one of up till recently do see if any symptoms came back, which they never did. I then butchered it, and as far as I could tell, everything inside look good.
So I was happy that as far as I could tell, I did not have maraks, and it was maybe mold or something that caused the issue. (I have also hatched a lot of chicks without a problem)
But recently one of my hens looks to have gone blind in one eye. She keeps it closed most of the time, and the pupil does not dilate; and its a bit grey looking.
To me, it looks rather like ocular maraks, but I'm so hoping its not.
Is ocular maraks caused by the same virus as the other maraks? And is there anything else that could cause the eye problem? She seems healthy in every other way.
Testing it not really possible, unfortunately.
I can get a photo a bit later, if it would help.

Please post photos of her eyes.

Marek's disease is a herpes virus in chickens.
There are 4 "forms" of Marek's disease and birds may show more than one form.

Skin form (cutaneous) shows up as enlarged feather follicles and/or scabs.

Nerve form (neural) dues to enlarged nerves and presents as paralysis, stumbling/incoordination, the splits, etc.

Eye form (ocular) affects the eyes. Chickens may go blind, the pupils may not respond to light, the iris may turn gray (gray eye), some eyes become pinpointed, etc.

Internal organs form (visceral) presents with tumors on the organs like liver, spleen, heart, etc.

Birds are carriers for life, Marek's can live in the environment for years. The disease is "survivable" and some can "recover", so most manage symptoms/offer supportive care when a bird becomes symptomatic. Some cull those that show symptoms to help prevent some shedding of the virus and only breed forward birds that stay healthy (asymptomatic).

Necropsy is usually the best way to get an official diagnosis.

 

[Sussex19]

Please post photos of her eyes.

Marek's disease is a herpes virus in chickens.
There are 4 "forms" of Marek's disease and birds may show more than one form.

Skin form (cutaneous) shows up as enlarged feather follicles and/or scabs.

Nerve form (neural) dues to enlarged nerves and presents as paralysis, stumbling/incoordination, the splits, etc.

Eye form (ocular) affects the eyes. Chickens may go blind, the pupils may not respond to light, the iris may turn gray (gray eye), some eyes become pinpointed, etc.

Internal organs form (visceral) presents with tumors on the organs like liver, spleen, heart, etc.

Birds are carriers for life, Marek's can live in the environment for years. The disease is "survivable" and some can "recover", so most manage symptoms/offer supportive care when a bird becomes symptomatic. Some cull those that show symptoms to help prevent some shedding of the virus and only breed forward birds that stay healthy (asymptomatic).

Necropsy is usually the best way to get an official diagnosis.

Thank you very much for the reply!
The first pic is her good eye, and then I got a couple of the bad one.
Its very hard to get good photos of it, as she keeps shutting it.
Is there anything else it could be? Since I first got chickens coming on for two years ago, I have not lost any, except one hen who never seemed very strong. She had sour crop when she was young, and then seem to waste away about a year later. She did have some of the same problem as the cockerels around the same time.
None of them are vaccinated, and came from 4 or 5 different places, so if it is Marek's, why have I not lost more?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The eye is a bit cloudy, does she seem to be able to see out of it?

Hard to tell if it's Ocular Marek's or not. I'm going to tag in @Eggcessive @coach723 and @microchick to have a look.

Marek's disease seems to be one of those puzzles. There are mild and hot strains and probably everything in between. Birds can be carriers and still remain asymptomatic. Some do lose quite a few birds, while others may only lose those that are weaker.

 

[Eggcessive]

In the left eye, it looks cloudy, possibly because the nictitating membrane is over the eye, and the second one of the left eye looks like the membrane is over part of the eye. But the pupil looks irregular. In the right eye, there is some fading of color. It could be ocular Mareks, but I am not positive. Some testing labs, especially RAL in the US will allow you to take a blood sample from a trimmed toenail, send it in, and they will perform a pcr Mareks test. Here is a link for them, and you might possibly find some lab in Australia that does this alao:
https://www.vetdna.com/application/forms/aviansubmittalform.pdf

 

[microchick]

Thanks for the tag, @Wyorp Rock.

@Sussex19 sorry you are having problems. There is a saying that if you think you have Marek's disease in your flock, you probably do. It's just that prevalent all over the world.

Your hen's eye is curious and definitely 'funky' looking. But is it MD? I'm in agreement with @Eggcessive, not sure but....and I say but because the pupil looks really odd to me. The colored part of the eye, the iris on a bird with Marek's is usually a nasty, green/gray looking. Now the question is why is your hen's still brick brown while the pupil looks suspicious.

I like to use this picture as a demo. I've had three birds with ocular Mareks and all looked like the eye on the right. The eye on the left is a normal chicken's eye. My birds presented with tightly constricted pupils and the green/gray irises.

Your hen's pupil looks irregular which is a sign of Marek's but it could also mean that there is a deep infection going on in the eye that is related to Marek's disease. The term is Iritis. Time will tell.

The fact that you have had roosters lose the use of their legs and recover is suspicious of MD. Can happen. But even if you do have Marek's in your flock not all of your birds will die. Those showing symptoms, yes, you will lose those birds but birds that are resistant will survive. Unfortunately, all will be carriers if that is the case.

Now what to do about the hen. Wait and see what happens is my best advice. If you want to you can put a bit of antibiotic salve in the eye. Nothing with pain relief added. Some would say isolate her but I don't recommend that unless the bird is actively dying from MD. The genie as they say, is out of the bottle. Keeping her with her flock mates will lower her stress levels and that is what you will want to do if she does have Marek's. Plus if it is MD, your whole flock is exposed now and carriers.

My best advice is to keep an 'eye' on that eye and see what happens. If the color changes then that is pretty much a firm diagnosis of MD. Or if she loses weight, becomes lethargic, etc. or develops new symptoms.

Let us know how things go. You aren't alone if you are dealing with Marek's disease. I have an article posted here on BYC that you are more than welcome to read about my experiences with the disease. You can find it here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

 

[Sussex19]

The eye is a bit cloudy, does she seem to be able to see out of it?

Its hard to tell, I think she can see something, but not as well as normal.

Some testing labs, especially RAL in the US will allow you to take a blood sample from a trimmed toenail, send it in, and they will perform a pcr Mareks test. Here is a link for them, and you might possibly find some lab in Australia that does this alao:
https://www.vetdna.com/application/forms/aviansubmittalform.pdf

I have not been able to find anywhere that does any kind of testing, the vet said they could send a sample off, but it would cost a lot, and take a long time as they would have to grow a sample in the lab or something. Basically they said you can't do that, and just bring the bird in and we'll tell you what it is. Is this reasonable? I don't see how they could tell any better than me, without testing for it.