Hen went blind - what happened?

[Nimby Chickens]

I now have another special-needs chicken. Her name is Claire, and she is almost totally blind. She is a little over a year old.

She definitely had vision before, but the past couple months I noticed her running in circles in the yard, getting lost, and slowly not making it to the coop at night. She was also getting picked on, when before she had been pretty high up the pecking order. She has what looks like a cataract in her eye on one side, but her other eye is clear.

I take her to the water and take her to her food. She is a picky eater and no longer eats chicken food by itself. I make her a mash with eggs and such to try and fatten her up, because she lost a lot of weight before I noticed her condition. She hasn't laid an egg in months and seems to have almost constant diarrhea. I am working with her and trying to improve her health. She is now living with Bird, my spoiled crossbeak, and they keep each other company.

 

[CMV]

Hey Nimby-

Long time no see. I thought you had 2 crossbeaks. Did you lose one? They were pretty severe if I remember correctly.

Claire sounds like she may have had an old injury to the eye with the cataract. Cataracts are often the end result of an old injury. She may have been short-sighted up to this point, but with the cataract fully ripened she is probably nearly blind in that eye. She could be struggling to adapt to this new turn of affairs. Chickens that are blind in one eye tend to turn circles a lot. They just can't seem to process what they are seeing, so they spin around in circles trying to find some direction. Not much can be done about a blind bird except what you are doing, which is to make her a special needs bird that gets sheltered and pampered.

The picky eating and diarrhea are little more problematic. When did this start? Has she ever been put on antibiotics or probiotics? What's in her mash? Have you tried other brands of feed?