Precious..the blind Barred Rock hen

[vantain]

Precious is 2 years old now. And yes, when I first named her, I had no idea she had severe vision issues, or what kind of a hen she would be. She is certainly living up to her name.

 

[Bonwell]

Precious is 2 years old now. And yes, when I first named her, I had no idea she had severe vision issues, or what kind of a hen she would be. She is certainly living up to her name.

My favorite all-time hen was a blind Chicken. (The one in my pfp) she was able to see for about the first half of her life, then randomly went blind. It's great to see that you're taking good care of her because it can be time consuming sometimes, but In my experience, quite worth it. My girl lived to be in the 9ish y/o area I believe. Hopefully you have many more years with yours!

 

[Lilokieescorter]

So very sorry for your loss of your sweet Gertrude, give Precious a hug for me

 

[vantain]

Summer has been slipping by, and I haven’t been checking the hens feet. Last night, I had them all out for supervised time out in the yard, and remembered I had not done the feet check in a long while. Well, I found that Precious has bumblefoot! Ugh….

It is a rather large scab, about the size of a small button, and accompanying swelling. I will be addressing this later today, but I don’t look forward to it. It has to be a painful process to go cutting it out and debriding.

I’ll take some pictures when I go about it, just to post the experience and final result. I have done this before to another hen a couple of years ago, but this one is much larger and more swollen. Poor Precious. She walks on it fine, and doesn’t appear to be bothered by it. The surgery will hurt, but hopefully I will do it correctly and get all the infection out, and it will heal.

Ugh….

 

[vantain]

Well, surgery is done, and I hope I got it all. The scab part came off with a little persuasion, and I removed anything else that looked infected. I packed it with plenty of neosporin, and a gauze pad, followed by vet wrap to keep it tight and clean. Hopefully it will heal ok.

Here is what I was dealing with..before removal of the scab, and after…

 

[BY Bob]

Well, surgery is done, and I hope I got it all. The scab part came off with a little persuasion, and I removed anything else that looked infected. I packed it with plenty of neosporin, and a gauze pad, followed by vet wrap to keep it tight and clean. Hopefully it will heal ok.

Here is what I was dealing with..before removal of the scab, and after…

I'm glad you caught it and got her fixed up. Poor girl. Nice job.

 

[vantain]

I'm glad you caught it and got her fixed up. Poor girl. Nice job.

Thanks. She tolerated it well. Will be interesting to see how it heals now. This is the biggest one I have ever had to deal with.

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks. She tolerated it well. Will be interesting to see how it heals now. This is the biggest one I have ever had to deal with.

That did look pretty nasty.

 

[vantain]

I’m wondering if this may have been caused by a cut from a broken shell. Precious has a habit of breaking eggs in the nest. She steps on them, probably due to the sight issues. It doesn’t happen all the time, but maybe once a week, or every couple of weeks. Of course, there might also be other things to cut a foot on, but this could be possible.

I’ve mentioned before that she’s a bit of a “bull in a china shop” when it comes to the nest, especially if other hens have already laid eggs before she goes in to lay her own.

 

[BY Bob]

I’m wondering if this may have been caused by a cut from a broken shell. Precious has a habit of breaking eggs in the nest. She steps on them, probably due to the sight issues. It doesn’t happen all the time, but maybe once a week, or every couple of weeks. Of course, there might also be other things to cut a foot on, but this could be possible.

I’ve mentioned before that she’s a bit of a “bull in a china shop” when it comes to the nest, especially if other hens have already laid eggs before she goes in to lay her own.

I can imagine that she has issues because she doesn't see the eggs. Anything that cut her foot could start bumblefoot. The bacteria just needs a way in.