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

[SurferchickinSB]

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?

Keep them together in the same brooder, do not separate them otherwise she will have a lot of problems with her siblings on her return. Just put up a piece of hardware cloth with tape or a couple screws or something iand that way she will be with all her little flock and will not be as stressed out because she will feel like she is still with them. Alleviating stress will help her heal better. From the photograph it looks like her eye area is not swollen, just give her a little time, only time will tell. If she is able to eat and drink, it sounds like she is not doing too bad. A really sick or injured animal will usually not eat or drink.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Great update! I'm so glad she's continuing to improve! You did great getting her isolated and seeking advice; you're officially a grade A chicken parent!

 

[Rothy_058]

Just my own thoughts here but I think chickens fall into the category of 'prey' rather than 'predator' which is why their eyes are on the sides of their heads rather than side-by-side on the front...so they have good all-round vision when both eyes are working correctly in order to look out for predators but they are not really geared up for judging distance / speed. However that is not to say that they don't need both eyes in order to 'peck correctly' at food objects...

I'm no expert, either, but going off what you've told us I would expect her to make a full recovery in time.

Keep us posted on her progress....and...good luck!

 

[azygous]

I wonder if that space above #12 is where the post I wrote didn't get posted. I knew I should have copied it in case this happened. The site malfunctions blew away my response to how chickens see. So, I'll recreate the post.

Chickens do not have binocular vision as humans do. Their eyes function independently of each other. The left eye focuses on distant objects and watched out for danger, while the right eye is busy looking for food. When one eye stops functioning, it doesn't affect depth perception as it does when one of our eyes isn't working.

However, a chicken with an injured right eye might have trouble picking up food. Your hen has an injured left eye, so she shouldn't have a problem picking up a morsel. She has either injured that eye, as well, or she has a little brain trauma that may be affecting her equilibrium.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Great update! I'm so glad she's continuing to improve! You did great getting her isolated and seeking advice; you're officially a grade A chicken parent!

What update? The site was not working and I didn’t see an update

 

[Henriettamom919]

What update? The site was not working and I didn’t see an update

I meant this one :

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.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I meant this one :

Thanks

 

[Kemical Fenix]

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much, as others have mentioned the depth perception issue is probably from not being able to see from her left eye. Also probably a bit out of it from getting rocked, any permanent damage would be noticable.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

@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.

Yes, I think her left eye is her far-seeing eye because she only uses her good eye for looking at the ground.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Another update!

Repecka is doing incredibly well, and I think any damage to her head or brain has healed completely, and she has been with her brood for a few days, and it all has just been going great.

My only worry is that she is blind in her injured left eye. She can’t see anything, and we tested it by waving our hands violently in front of both of her eyes, and she only reacted when it was her right eye.

I really hope it’s only temporary, but anyway it seems she’s made a full recovery with whatever was going on inside her head.

Thank you all so much for the help so far!