Hello! I'll just jump right into this...
On September 27, we got 3 new chicks from My Pet Chicken, one of those chicks being a Polish one. Fast forward now, I'm giving the little ones more freedoms as they get older. Everyday I go out there, I let the adolescent chicks get outside in my run with my other hens for about two hours. Unlike the other chicks, who have learned to go inside the coop so I can put them in the brooder, the Polish hen is lost and cries out. Every time. It was fine until today I decided to put her back inside, but first investigated her face under her big crest. Turns out one of her eyes is shut! I gently rolled my finger across the top of the closed lid to open it, and it opened with ease and revealed a normal eye. The closed eye had no lumps or discharge, just closed. Her other eye is open, and she still runs around and eats like a chick, but that closed eye is bothering me. Sometimes the older hens peck the chicks. Could it simply be that she's tired or possibly was pecked? How should I assess this? Should I trim her crest to look at the eye better?
Thanks!
On September 27, we got 3 new chicks from My Pet Chicken, one of those chicks being a Polish one. Fast forward now, I'm giving the little ones more freedoms as they get older. Everyday I go out there, I let the adolescent chicks get outside in my run with my other hens for about two hours. Unlike the other chicks, who have learned to go inside the coop so I can put them in the brooder, the Polish hen is lost and cries out. Every time. It was fine until today I decided to put her back inside, but first investigated her face under her big crest. Turns out one of her eyes is shut! I gently rolled my finger across the top of the closed lid to open it, and it opened with ease and revealed a normal eye. The closed eye had no lumps or discharge, just closed. Her other eye is open, and she still runs around and eats like a chick, but that closed eye is bothering me. Sometimes the older hens peck the chicks. Could it simply be that she's tired or possibly was pecked? How should I assess this? Should I trim her crest to look at the eye better?
Thanks!
so glad to hear this. thanks for the update.
