I had to put down one of my favorite cheeps today- a 4 month old splash polish pullet that I raised in the incubator and planned to keep. She was a prime example of a Polish and was sweet as can be so she was a keeper. Then she seemed to have problems seeing but her crest was so full I clipped it with the scissors but she went from that to tilting her head up and kept one eye open, the other was closed and when I opened the eyelid the pupil was way dialated and the iris very much below where it should be showing a lot of the white. She started then to hold her head crooked to the side and if she tried to look up her whole head would tilt back and she'd lose her balance and go backward with wings spread. She'd then show her head dropping very slowly like falling asleep to her breast, lay down and look normal and sleep. She'd eat and drink when she could but it was difficult. I'm thinking Mareks. Need some help on identifying it. Some books said maybe poison of some sort. Any advice would be welcome.
*sorry Splash, I'll miss you!* sniff
