HELP! BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO THE HEAD, EYE SWOLLEN SHUT

[ChickenGirl555]

I accidentally let one of the vertical coop doors slip through my fingers because it was wet from a storm last night, and it landed straight on my poor—FAVORITE, of course—12 week old chick, Repecka.

It happened this morning and I was gone for the day after setting her up, but had a family member watching her at home all day in the house.

After 8.5 hours, she seems better than this morning. She has good control of her neck and limbs, and can stand and walk—SLOWLY—on her own, but she had poor coordination when drinking and eating at first, but after some help she seemed to stop having problems with depth perception, and was able to drink on her own. Currently im posting this on my phone as I’m outside, standing above her as she sleeps next to the coop. I’m hoping this lets the others see her, or helps her in some emotional way.

Now that I’m not worried about her dieing any minute since she’s only gotten better, I’ve started worrying about her left swollen eye. The other seems fine, but I guess the door hit the left side of her face or something like that, because it looked red a minute after the accident, and hasn’t opened since it closed soon after the incident.

So my questions are really:

• What do you think is wrong with her head/mind/brain? Is it a concussion? Possibly brain bleeding? I’m worried there’s brain damage that could impact her for her entire life...

• Will her eye ever get better? It seems like under her eye there is swelling and a bump, but the rest is almost kinda flat or normal. Will she be blind? Do you think she could recover?

I’d also like to say that we can’t bring her to the vet for location reasons and we can only give her help with things found around our house, at stores, or from a place like TSC, a feed mill, etc.

I really hope somebody is a professional or has some sort of background in this kind of thing....I want her to live, but not if she’ll have permanent brain damage that messes up her coordination and just physical abilities. If her eye is blind, I think I can still keep her and help her adapt. She’s still young.

She is also chirping and trilling, and starting to become more active. We are really worried about her and the pecking order, since we were in the middle of integration between my adult flock and her siblings. When could she be with others? I wouldn’t let the adults near her until she’s strong (unless she never gets better...).

I’ll post pictures in the next post of her eye!

Edit to add: I noticed that it said a pictured I had tried to add was actually still attached. Does this work for you?

 

[mixedbreeds]

I was expecting something ugly it looks fine, only time will tell. I hope she gets better chickens are tough, good luck I don’t really see anything to do other than keep her separated until she seems well.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I was expecting something ugly it looks fine, only time will tell. I hope she gets better chickens are tough, good luck I don’t really see anything to do other than keep her separated until she seems well.

Alright....

I sorta mentioned that she has bad depth perception. She doesn’t seem to be able to eat since she thinks the food is always higher than it actually is. She pecks about an inch above the food, although finds the water good enough to drink on her own—when motivated or encouraged.

Is this because of her eye or something more serious with her brain? We think it has something to do with having one eye, since she looks at the food and then turns before pecking too high above the food. She has good aim but just doesn’t go low enough. I got her to eat only five crumble pieces...I hope she’s better by tomorrow. I’ll give you updates in the morning.

 

[blackandtan]

As long as she is eating I assume she’s drinking too? Sounds like she may just need time to recover, chickens are tough! I’d keep an eye on her food intake to ensure she’s getting enough to eat and drink, electrolytes in the water are always a good choice too.
All head injuries benefit from rest, peace and quiet. Good luck!

 

[Gosy White Wings]

One thing I can tell you is that if her eye is damaged, she will eventually get used to using only one eye. I have a duck who's blind in one eye, and lives life normally.
But that eye doesn't look too bad. I'd just isolate her from the flock, somewhere calm and safe but not lonely, until she heals.

 

[Henriettamom919]

It's too soon to say why she's struggling with her depth perception but I'm guessing it's a combination of the visual disturbance from swelling combined with (possible but mild) concussion.

The fact that she has the desire to eat, drink and sing is a GREAT sign! Improvement so quickly after initial injury is a good sign! The only thing I could recommend is maybe offer a vitamin support product like nutridrench to help her healing process and to close the gap from any reduced food and water intake while she adjusts to the visual difference.

For what it's worth I think she'll heal up fine; the eye is likely just swelling and in the event it's not she'll be okay with a little time.

You did great by her with your speedy response getting her inside and quiet while you kept an eye on her!

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Thanks for all the quick help and advice! Today she’s doing better. She’s starting to open her eye halfway and a few hours ago she started eating properly so now I know she has been regularly eating and drinking. She seems a little slow but she has the desire to move and be with her flockmates. I’m letting her interact with them so she isn’t forgotten, and she’s been doing great.

I’m trying to find a way to let her be outside again because she just seems so unhappy in the house, but I’ll see if she likes our bigger dog crate.

The swelling doesn’t look as red anymore and has gone down slightly. She’s slowly becoming herself again! Thank you for the help, again, and I’ll keep updating although I think she’ll recover soon enough. I’ll find some electrolytes and start adding them to her water.

 

[sourland]

Good update.

 

[Eggcessive]

@azygous has mentioned before in threads about one eye being for close-up site while the other eye is for distance. I have no info on that, but maybe she will weigh in. I am glad that she is doing better today.

 

[AmyJane725]

Depth perception problems are because she's only looking out of one eye. Once the other eye opens she'll have depth perception abilities again. Need two eyes to perceive depth.