Marek’s?

[Rubycon]

Hey everyone, this chicken wandered onto our elderly neighbor’s property this afternoon, and he brought it down to us thinking it was ours. It is not. He doesn’t have chickens so he asked us to keep it. I immediately put it in a quarantine cage I have for our pigeons.It definitely has leg mites, but I now notice it’s completely blind. Eyes are spotty/cloudy, one pupil is shaped normally, one is different than the other. Neither eye reacts to light. It’s having a hard time eating because it cannot see. Wondering if this is ocular mareks? If so, I definitely don’t need that on our property. If it is, do I euthanize away from our property? It is currently in an area where no other animals are at and I sanitized my boots, changed clothes after I put it in the cage

 

[dennisma1]

I donk know about the Mareks but pretty shitty for someone to dump thier blind hen.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Oh...yeah...that definitely looks like ocular Marek's.

I would euthanize and get it off the property. I recommend the CO2 method as humane. Get a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket, a small block of dry ice (from the grocers). Place dry ice at bottom of bucket, pour warm water, place a piece of styrofoam (as a kindness), let bucket fill with cloud of gas placing lid loosely on top (so it doesn't blow). Place bird into heavy cloud within the bucket, reclose lid loosely. Usually it only takes about 30 seconds...an initial gasp, and fluttering (bird is already unconscious).

Dispose of everything far away from flock.

LofMc

 

[Rubycon]

I donk know about the Mareks but pretty shitty for someone to dump thier blind hen.

Agreed!! The poor thing is in bad shape from mites and frostbite on the comb. It’s definitely been through hell. If it’s not Marek’s I absolutely will keep her and rehab her. I am a wildlife rehabber by trade and this makes me so sad.

 

[Rubycon]

Oh...yeah...that definitely looks like ocular Marek's.

I would euthanize and get it off the property. I recommend the CO2 method as humane. Get a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket, a small block of dry ice (from the grocers). Place dry ice at bottom of bucket, pour warm water, place a piece of styrofoam (as a kindness), let bucket fill with cloud of gas placing lid loosely on top (so it doesn't blow). Place bird into heavy cloud within the bucket, reclose lid loosely. Usually it only takes about 30 seconds...an initial gasp, and fluttering (bird is already unconscious).

Dispose of everything far away from flock.

LofMc

Ugh that sucks but I had a bad feeling that is what it was. Thank you