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Swoopie

Swoopie

Hatching
11 Years
Jul 11, 2008
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I posted this in a forum and I think I put it in the wrong place but I really need advice. I got a bunch of chicks in the mail and they are now 2 days old. One of them has a film over both eyes giving the appearance of being blind. I have to hand feed and water her but that's not going well. Will this "blindness" go away? Can she survive like that? How do I feed her? I don't have what it takes to put her down and would rather help her thrive.
Thank you in advance>
swoopie
 
I have not ever had to deal with a blind chicks, but there are others here who have blind or limited sight chickens.

The key seems to be routine and keeping them in a smallish coop/run so they become familiar with where the feed and water is...and getting the chicks to the point where they can go into that sort of situation.

Sounds to me like you are doing the right things - making sure the chick gets opportunity to eat by itself where it doesn't have to deal with the jostle around the feeder. I'd take the blind chick out 3-4 times per day and give her unlimited access to the feed with your help to find it (which it sounds like you are doing). Also keep an eye out to make sure the other chicks aren't picking on her.

Trisha (Southern28Chick) has a blind hen. Here's one of her threads on the topic

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=38739

You can also do a search using the link in the toolbar above for 'blind' and see what you come up with.
 
You have 2 options.

1. You can cull her. The end.

2. You can hand feed the chick. Teach it where the food and water is and never ever change from that position. It will require it needs to be met by you for its entire life. It will need its own private little house and run away from the main flock. The chicken world is a very cold cruel place to live if you are handicapped. As they mature the other chickens will figure out something is wrong and will most likely attack repeatedly with the intent to eliminated/kill the weaker chicken of the flock. Survival of the fittest is how chickens tend to live.
 

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