Chicken is going blind

[APK]

Hello,

One of my Plymouth Rocks who is about 2 years old appears to be going blind. I noticed that she keeps stumbling when she comes out the door at the step and it happened twice. We thought previously she was ill as she tends to hide in one spot and isn't moving around like she usually does.

When I checked her crop or her belly, there's no hardness. Doesn't appear to be sick.

This morning I noticed she's trying to eat and pecking in the air because she doesn't know where the food is and also stumbling as she walks.

However, she was able to find her way back into the coop last night, so she must have some vision.

Another observation is that she sits in one place, closes her eyes and is often sleeping by curling her head back under her wing.

They do wander around during the day. I wonder if she might have eaten a toxic berry or a piece of metal. What can I do to diagnose the problem ?

 

[50-45-1]

I just googled 'blindness in chickens' and #1 was mereks.
It even said cocosideous could have this side effect.
It also said vitamin A deficiency. So I would start there and get a good full spectrum supplement for her (and the rest of the flock), and see if it helps.
Sometimes just one bird will need more of something than the others.
Has your flock had mereks or cocosideous to your knowledge in the past?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you post a clear picture of each eye? Even totally blind chickens can see lightness and shadows, so they may be able to get around okay if they find the food and water. Having more than one feeding station may help her, and they can smell water. If you go out to the coop a couple of time a day, you could offer her a little snack out of a tuna or cat food can. Moistened chicken feed and scrambled egg is good.

 

[APK]

I am attaching pictures of one eye. I will get better pictures tomorrow.

I am not seeing any cloudiness in the eye. No paralysis of the legs. There is weight loss because she isn't able to find the food. She is walking around otherwise fine.

I found her today after she had fallen into a window well. When I took her out, she had watery diarrhea, which isn't necessarily unusual.

I was able to feed her oatmeal and she ate that hungrily once I poked the bowl into her beak. Drank water well once I took her to the watering bowl and dipped her beak in there too.

She is able to see shadows maybe.

Regarding the vitamin deficiency, they are all on the layer formulation for 2+ years, I've never had any problems.

Right now she is crated and isolated from the flock. The other birds have started bullying her.

I am wondering if she ate a metal nut or galvanized nail or something.

 

[Eggcessive]

Eating metal hardware should not make her blind. Hardware disease is a common problem if they eat metal items around the chicken yard. It’s good that you found her in the window well. Instead of the oatmeal, I would soak some of the chicken feed in some water and feed that. It has all of the balanced nutrients she needs. Does she have any white spots or peck marks around her eyes? Let us know how she is tomorrow, and compare her eyes in color and pupil size.

 

[APK]

She is eating fine and is being crated in the evenings and let out during the day.

She is eating her regular layer feed.

The food has to be put right in front of her in a bowl and as she's trying to find it, she will peck in the air many times and miss the bowl, so we know it's a vision problem.

There are no white specs or peck marks on her eyes. I don't see any abnormal dilation of the pupils. She has some vision, maybe sees shadows or blurred shapes and is able to hear and follow the other chickens around.

The issue came on suddenly in the last couple of weeks. We are hoping it's something that might get flushed out of her system.

 

[Eggcessive]

Usually, a blind chicken might have dilated non-reactive pupils, a cloudy spot that looks like smoke inside the pupil, or in Mareks, a dulling of the color to gray with an irregular small pupil. It sounds like you have a good handle on things. Let us know how she gets along.

 

[HenniferB]

I know this thread is a few months old, but I am currently going through this with my barred rock who is also almost 2 years old. Her eyes look normal but I recently discovered her vision is very impaired. I'm reasonably sure it's Marek's because I have another hen whose eye looks like typical Marek's that also has decreased vision. So I guess I just have to figure out how to get her to eat better also. How is your girl doing?

 

[Eggcessive]

I know this thread is a few months old, but I am currently going through this with my barred rock who is also almost 2 years old. Her eyes look normal but I recently discovered her vision is very impaired. I'm reasonably sure it's Marek's because I have another hen whose eye looks like typical Marek's that also has decreased vision. So I guess I just have to figure out how to get her to eat better also. How is your girl doing?

Could you post pictures of the eyes? Are you seeing any other symptoms of Mareks?

 

[HenniferB]

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