White Wing Tip - marker for sickness?

[MrsNoName]

I am wondering if anyone can tell me - is the development of a white wing tip feather a sign of sickness?
I had a Rhode Island Red who developed a white wing tip about a year old. She was always the sickly one in the flock and laid thin shelled eggs no matter how hard I tried to get more calcium into her. Still she got to be 4 so we had a good time together. Latterly she puffed up and had trouble walking. It turned out she was egg bound. It broke inside her and she had to be put to sleep by the vet - x-rays and euthanasia is about all the vets here can do for us.
Recently my most beautiful Black Australop, Hennie, developed a white wing tip about the same time she started to become more stay at home and fluffed up with her neck drawn in. She stopped eating and drinking without a lot of encouragement. I took her to the vet for the x-ray, thinking I'd catch egg bound again, early this time, but the vet said there was no egg there, gave her a pain shot and suggested we try mineral oil in case the problem was digestive. We took her home and administered mineral oil and also syringe fed her water and she rallied. But then we had to go to UK to visit my sick, elderly mother, and Hennie flagged again while we were away. She passed away just before we got home so I didn't get the chance to see if we could really pull her through. I suspect it was more serious than I could have managed though.
Anyway, the point is that both chickens developed white wing tip feathers on one side only later in life and then got sick. Is this a sign I can watch out for with other birds or was it a coincidence?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm interested in seeing what others have to say about this.

There is no disease I know of that is classic, white wing tip then death, so no, there isn't a disease per se.

However, changing feather colors can indicate nutritional deficiency. This can happen with age due to poorer digestion or from worm load or from internal cancer. Many of our commercial laying breeds die from ovarian cancer at around 3 to 4 years of age because they have been selected for optimum egg production rather than longevity.

Marek's does reside in the feather follicles. Follicles hold the pigments for the feathers. It is possible that you have a lower level Marek's virus that is the wasting type and is triggered by lower immunity due to age.

Obviously the birds were feeling poorly and the wing tip change may have indicated an overall health decline and nutritional stress.

Or it could simply be coincidence. Birds do get white tips as they age. The white wing tip may have had nothing to do with anything other than showing an aging bird whose immune system is also aging.

Sorry for your losses. It is sad to lose bird friends.

My thoughts.

LofMc

 

[MrsNoName]

Thanks for the response, LofMc. I didn't think of Marek's disease as it didn't show up early in the flock and I had them all as chicks, except for Hennie who was about a year old when the last group of chicks arrived. I will research this and see if I can learn anything more to identify the cause. Certainly the health decline and nutritional stress seem to fit the bill. I appreciate the help in thinking this through.