Dizziness and possible blindness in a 2 year old hen???

[kkormos]

So I have a two year old barred rock hen that seems to have gone blind over the last three days. It started out that she seemed tired and was often closing her eyes for longer periods of time. No discharge, no redness, but then the second day she seemed dizzy. Her head was bobbling side to side and she seemed off balance. Third day, she's still having weird head movements but her eyes are cloudy and runs into things. It's obvious she is using sound to get around. The other chickens are actually being helpful with her, finding her food and water, and getting into her coop at night. My chickens are free range with fresh clean well water and get Helens Best crumbles for laying hens every morning. Any ideas? My biggest concern is if its something the rest can get, we have 27 hens all free range together. Please help!

 

[seminolewind]

There's no real way to diagnose . It could be anything affecting her nervous system or eyes. Something toxic? Injury?

 

[Eggcessive]

Unfortunately I might suspect cataracts or Mareks disease. There is one type of Mareks that can affect the eyes. It may not be that at all, but if you could possibly take pictures of her eyes and post them here you may receive more help. Here are a couple of links about eye problems, and below are two chickens with Mareks disease that exhibit either a pinpoint pupil or the irregular shaped pupil that is common: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps031