How to help heal a chicken who recently lost her eyes

[CrazyBirdLadyUSA]

My leghorn recently lost both of her eyes to bullying (they were pecked out poor thing) and I’m crossing my fingers that she heals well.

I’m giving her doxycycline in her water as well as antibiotic eye drops (and for good measure oxine nebulizing treatment once or twice a day though she’s not showing any type of respiratory distress. I figure the oxine mist all over her face and eyes couldn’t hurt). I’ve been doing this for about 5 days so far.

Has anyone been through this before? How long might the healing process be? I’m curious what to expect but hopeful she’ll get better. She’s in a crate in my basement away from the others.

Honestly I’m not even sure what a wound like this is supposed to look like when healed.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

How terrible! I hope you chicken is ok!

 

[theoldchick]

Hopefully the eyes are still there and once the wounds heal, she'll be able to see again. Otherwise, she'll have to be a house chicken and will have to learn how to find food and water. Supply an area that can be easily cleaned and away from loud noises. Once she settles in don't move her food or water. Good luck with her and keep us updated.

 

[WoDia]

That’s great advice from @theoldchick. I’m so sorry to hear that happened to her. I will give insight ONLY on long-term care, because I raised a blind (from hatch) male turkey. He lived a full, long, pampered life. It takes an enormous amount of effort to raise a special needs bird. The most important thing for her right now is healing (you separated her and are treating the wounds). When the swelling goes down, you can access whether the eyeballs are still intact. If they are, she may eventually have her sight back. You’ll have to judge this farther along in the healing process. My blind turkey had his own special needs enclosure, where food and water dishes were never moved. He used the walls to guide him to the dishes. He even had a favorite spot to rest. He did well eating and drinking on his own, but I also hand-fed him to ensure proper nutrition. And, I had to clean him up daily. Every single moment was worth it to me. I miss him very much. I wish the best for your girls full recovery. Post updates.

Edit: I also had his sister with him for companionship.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

I had a pullet whose eye was injured from another chicken pecking it. I used saline eye wash and an eye ointment daily. She was only half blind so she stayed with her flockmates for the time she was here. Her eye by the end was grayish and was bulging out of her head before she started to hurt from the eye. Her eye did heal but it didn’t go back to fully normal, it slowly continued to bulge out of her head.

The main thing right now is to keep the eyes clean and rinse daily or twice daily with saline eye wash. Keeping the eyes from getting infected is the first step to healing. Hopefully your girl can heal and live a few more years.

@Wyorp Rock can give better and more information on the specifics of everything. I gave my experience but that is definitely very different from your experiences with your hen.

 

[Certified Chicken Lover]

My leghorn recently lost both of her eyes to bullying (they were pecked out poor thing) and I’m crossing my fingers that she heals well.

I’m giving her doxycycline in her water as well as antibiotic eye drops (and for good measure oxine nebulizing treatment once or twice a day though she’s not showing any type of respiratory distress. I figure the oxine mist all over her face and eyes couldn’t hurt). I’ve been doing this for about 5 days so far.

Has anyone been through this before? How long might the healing process be? I’m curious what to expect but hopeful she’ll get better. She’s in a crate in my basement away from the others.

Honestly I’m not even sure what a wound like this is supposed to look like when healed.

I’m sorry! This must be so hard

I have a chicken who unfortunately lost her vision due to age and a few other factors. In the beginning it was truly challenging trying to teach her how to live without eyesight. She now lives though inside a small enclosure next to the central chicken pen so she can hear her other flock mates but they can’t peck her. @WoDia and @theoldchick already offered great advice but I just want to add a few things I found helpful with my blind hen. Since they can’t see blind chickens especially need grit incorporated in they feed or they will find it hard to digest their food. I didn’t think of this at first and had to bottle feed my poor girl because she stopped eating her food for a time because she was having a hard time digesting it. Right after she became blind I foolishly thought that she would miss her flock mates so it would help her to be with them for a time, but chickens can sense weaknesses and they only terrified her more. I now will only let few of my gentle hens see her from time to time but she seems to like being by herself more.

Good luck with your hen! Keep us updated

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is an update to this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/good-news-health-update.1610641/