A slow learner

[luvmychicknkids]

LOL...poor little sweetie. We all have our weak points. I feel her pain, I am HORRIBLE with directions. I hope things get a bit easier for the little lady soon.

 

[zippychickens]

oh my, I'm not sure if I want to laugh or cry! I'm sure she'll get the hang of it. And your sure she can SEE well?

 

[mamaboyd]

I was thinking the same as zippychickens. Maybe she is blind or partially blind? Poor girl, I can just imagine how she feels when she can't find her way to her buddies.

 

[Mark]

Quote:
We have watched carefully and 'slow learner' can see. We are currently wondering if she is deaf, though. Yesterday, I noticed her hanging out with her 3 'flock' mates. One of the 3 noticed something, and in a flash the whole flock, less 'slow learner', was dashing off. They had run off while slow-learner was looking in the opposite direction. She didn't notice anything for about 30 seconds, then looked around and noticed everyone was gone. Her problem became 'where is everyone?'. She headed off in the right direction, but everyone had turned a corner and were out of sight. It took a while for her to find the flock, but she did.

Mark

 

[zippychickens]

Thanks for the update, I've been wondering how slow learner is doing. I'm happy to know she is able to see. I guess there are some drawbacks to being deaf, but seems it would be better to be deaf than blind if your a chicken?
keep us updated.

 

[LynneP]

Mark, I'm wondering if she has a vision problem. Just a thought- she may need a wee bit more assistance than the others.

 

[Mark]

Here is a picture of Slow-Learner. She is sitting alone, as often is the case. Everyone else is inside the hen house. You can see the hen-house door just above her. Note that she is looking directly at me. I took about 6 photos of her, moving the camera a little bit each time. In almost all the photos, she is looking directly at me. I think this is pretty strong evidence she can see.

Inside the hen house, there was a big commotion. Maybe she stayed outside to avoid the stress. I suspect she is a sensitive chick.

Below is a photo from the back of the hen house. This shows what was going on inside. For the past month, the 'timid crowd' (2 Delawares and 2 buff orpingtons, of which slow-learner is one. All are 3 month old pullets) have lived with our 1 year old Rock, Sophie. The rowdy crowd, 12 more 3 month old pullets, live in a second tractor. The second tractor is smaller than this one and the two most intelligent chicks (New Hampshire Reds) have decided to move into the bigger hen house. In fact, one thinks she should share Sophie's roost.

Sophie begs to disagree on the existence of a vacancy on her roost, so they have had a nightly battle over the top rung for the last few days. It is a noisy way to settle down for the night. The timid crowd doesn't seem to enjoy the dramatics.

For the last several nights, Slow-Learner has skipped roosting and slept on the floor next to the hen house door. Tonight, she decided to roost in the run. We waited until everyone went to sleep, then moved Slow Learner into the hen house.

 

[zippychickens]

Slow Learner is a cute little thing. She may just be very sensitive to her suroundings.

 

[Riparian]

Slow learner makes me laugh. Best of luck with her.

 

[Mark]

Just an update. Slow-Learner (Buffy, now) is doing fine. She will turn 5 months old, tomorrow. She is about 3/4 the size of our other 5 month old buff orphington, and sleeps alone in our little chicken-tractor. Otherwise, she is a pretty normal hen, now.

Our other 16 birds all pile into the 'big' tractor every night. Buffy wouldn't go in and preferred to settle down between the wheels supporting the tractor. It is not a safe place to sleep. For a while, we put her in the tractor with everyone else, but she wouldn't voluntarily go in by herself. About a month ago, we started putting he in the old tractor and that seems to have worked out. Every night, she goes in there by herself and all we have to do is lock the door.

We have tried putting one of the less dominant pullets in with her, but they treat her very rudely, so we let her sleep by herself.