8 week old chick with milky eyes, very limited vision

[DarkWater1929]

Hello! I have a cuckoo marans hen that hatched two chicks about 8 weeks ago. One of the chicks has always looked smaller, and kind of puny. About a week ago, I noticed that the small chick's eyes are milky and bluish. She has to search to find food and water, often missing. I don't know if her eyes have always been this way, or if this is a developing condition.

Neither mom not sibling show any sign of illness. This chick is energetic, and shows no other sign of trouble, except for the small stature. I have never seen this in my flock before.

Any suggestion as to what could have caused this, and if it can be reversed? All input will be welcomed! Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello! I have a cuckoo marans hen that hatched two chicks about 8 weeks ago. One of the chicks has always looked smaller, and kind of puny. About a week ago, I noticed that the small chick's eyes are milky and bluish. She has to search to find food and water, often missing. I don't know if her eyes have always been this way, or if this is a developing condition.

Neither mom not sibling show any sign of illness. This chick is energetic, and shows no other sign of trouble, except for the small stature. I have never seen this in my flock before.

Any suggestion as to what could have caused this, and if it can be reversed? All input will be welcomed! Thank you!

Can you please post some photos of the eyes?

 

[DarkWater1929]

I'm sorry; she squirms a lot! Also, it seems to have added them too many times. Please let me know if you need me to try again. Thank you!!!

 

[Waves]

A more defined picture would be better.
it's similar to cataract...maybe genetic?
is the pupil shape normal (round)?
@Eggcessive maybe she can help you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry; she squirms a lot! Also, it seems to have added them too many times. Please let me know if you need me to try again. Thank you!!!View attachment 1957405

That's interesting.
I wonder if she may have been poked in the eye with some wire or something. Oh, are BOTH eyes like that? Possibly genetic, I don't know.
@Eggcessive knows more about various eye conditions, hopefully she will be on soon.

 

[Acre4Me]

We had a legbar that had an opaque eye, along with a possibly deformed upper eyelid. This is her around 3 months old:

She must have had something else going on bc she developed what looked to be tumors, first near the good eye, then one the bad eye. We had first thought she had an infection, and tried a multi course treatment, which included using Gentian Violet (at the time of this pic). This is her at 4 months of age:

And the opaque bad eye at the same time as above pic. These tumors developed rapidly.

So no one else in the flock ended up with any tumors or illness, so it may have been a congenital type disease (she was hatched with an opaque eye) or something that was not a contagious illness . We culled her shortly after the above pic. Nothing was helping and clearly tumors were growing, so we didn't think she needed to have her suffering prolonged.

I don't think yours looks quite this bad (the eye opacity), and ours was bale to get around pretty well for the duration of her life, although she did often seem to have moments of hesitation when something occurred in the run on the side of her bad eye, where she couldn't see.

 

[DarkWater1929]

A more defined picture would be better.
it's similar to cataract...maybe genetic?
is the pupil shape normal (round)?
@Eggcessive maybe she can help you

Pupil shape is normal. I will try again, today, to get better pics. I only have my phone, and she is not a diva, sadly. Thank you though!!

 

[Waves]

oh yes i understand! i had to do a lot of tries to make a picture of my Giada's cataract. They love to pose but hate to show milky eyes, maybe because they can't see much and have fear to be attacked? i don't know
sorry i dindn't want to be unkind, i'm italian and i don't know english very well

 

[DarkWater1929]

That's interesting.
I wonder if she may have been poked in the eye with some wire or something. Oh, are BOTH eyes like that? Possibly genetic, I don't know.
@Eggcessive knows more about various eye conditions, hopefully she will be on soon.

Thank you so much for your time! Yes, both eyes are the same. I have wondered if it could be a deficiency of some sort? Some mineral she doesn't get? Is there a chicken version of scarlet fever, I wonder. I had one chick that was sick, early on. It recovered, and I no longer recall which it was. So many hens had chicks this season... Anyway, thanks again!

 

[Waves]

I have wondered if it could be a deficiency of some sort? Some mineral she doesn't get?

IF it's cataract (but i'm not sure), it can be caused by injury, vitamin A deficiency, continue exposure to the light, dust, or ammoniaca in the coop

i hope that someone that know more will arrive in this 3d soon