Tumor from Marek's or just a ball of infection...

Knitknakr

In the Brooder
Apr 13, 2022
5
14
24
QUESTION: Do you have a necropsy picture of a neck tumor, most likely from Marek's?

I did a necropsy (former vet tech) and found a large, lumpy, hard, yellow ball on my hen's neck. I was really sad and didn't even think to take a picture before I buried her. She has been in and out of the Princess Pen (what I call it when I separate my chickens from the flock because they wear a chicken diaper, are hand fed and watered, and run around my craft room willy nilly) for two months. Today I noticed her face was swollen and I checked her ear for infection. I could see the lump under what I think was the superficial facia and when I pushed gently up towards the ear she could not breathe. It definitely was NOT an ear infection.

After reading a few posts and previous research, I know it wasn't gape worm-no worms detected during the necropsy, but I am confused if it was Marek's because the rest of my flock had no symptoms and they have been together since they were 1–5 days old and they are all 7+ months old. If you can help identify or share insight, I would be SO grateful. Here's her story...and thank you for reading.

Two months ago, she developed symptoms similar to Mareks and Gape Worm. Since my other chickens showed no symptoms (all from the same batch of chicks), I figured it was Gape Worm. I dewormed her with Safeguard and she got better, not falling over, gasping for breath, etc. This whole time she was eating like crazy, but losing weight.

Then she had an impacted crop, so I massaged it with olive oil and kept her inside away from food. After three weeks, four days inside with normal food and no free range, her crop was emptying normally. BUT she had lost a lot of weight over two months and was not gaining it back, always leaning to her crop side, falling over, easy target for the rooster, etc. Last week she had a string of drool coming out of her beak while roosting when I checked on them at night. Poor thing...her lump was on the other side of her crop and had grown so big that her airway was partially blocked and she was passing out in my arms. I loved on her and gave her some scrambled eggs, but she passed. She died with scrambled egg in her throat on its way down. I am not sure if it was just too hard to swallow because of the lump, or if it was just time.

So, being fairly new to chickens, do I need to vaccinate my flock for Marek's? Does this sound like Mareks? They are all 7+ months old and have no symptoms, not even close to what she was dealing with. We are trying organic, but if they need it, I will give it to them.

I would really appreciate any insight. Also, pictures of chicken tumors, not infection, would help me identify what was wrong with my girl.
 
Hi there. I’m sorry you’re dealing with a mystery. The only way to know for sure is to have the bird tested for Marek’s, but you would have to refrigerate the body and it’s too late for that. It’s also not possible to vaccinate now, it must be done right after hatch.

Do you know if your current flock was vaccinated? The vaccine can be leaky, meaning vaccinated birds can make the unvaccinated sick, and doesn’t actually prevent Marek’s, it just masks symptoms. It doesn’t always do that either.

You can find images of tumors from Marek’s online for comparison but I haven’t seen anything specific to the neck area.
 

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