Hi there. I have an Easter Egger pullet who is about 14 weeks old. Yesterday I noticed she was doing a weird "high step" walk, but seemed fine otherwise and seemed to be eating and drinking normally (at least when I was there to observe her). So this morning when I let the pullets out of the coop, she was the last to come out and was really walking with an exaggerated "high step". She ended up being by herself since all the others ran off, and just kind of stood there seemingly preening her chest area a bit, then kept closing her eyes for the most part. I had to go in the house for a little while and when I came back out she had moved to an area with tall grass and is just laying in there. Her eyes look normal from what I could see, but I will admit, I couldn't get a real close up look. These babies were given to a broody hen to raise, and are not used to being held, and wont let you get too close. They were all vaccinated for Mareks, so I'm hoping it's not that, but from some of the research I've been doing, it sounds like it might be. So at this point I don't know what to do. Some articles I've read said to separate chickens with Mareks, but if the virus is very contagious and spreads 5 miles, then wouldn't all of my chickens already be exposed? She was raised with 12 other pullets, and they are all acting fine and very normal. Some articles said that if your chicken has Mareks that they won't live and to cull them immediately, but others say they might survive and live a fairly normal life. We've been keeping chickens for about 10 years but this is the first time I've run into this problem, and I will admit I'm at a total loss as to what to do and how to handle this. We really can't afford a vet right now, either. Wouldn't you know she is a really sweet, cute and gentle pullet, one of my faves (of course!). Anyway, I would sure appreciate some advice here because I don't know what to do.
