Baby chick is blind?? PLEASE HELP!!

[Abby_]

Please help me!! I don't know what to do. I got 2 chicks 2 days ago. I noticed one of them is SUPER tiny. I did everything I did last time with my other chickens (they are alive and healthy). She seems way to tiny for her age she is about 5 days old now. We think she might be blind. Whenever I put my hand out to her she doesn't flinch or notice me until her beak hits my hand. She also chirps loudly and all day long. The only time she settels down is when I hold her. She hasn't been eating or drinking. I have been force feeding her. Today she finally ate some bananas and grapes. I know that this can't be the only food she eats though. Another thing I noticed is that she sits in one spot of the bin and stays there. She also walks around with her eyes closed. It seems as if it's hard for her to keep her eyes open. Someone please tell me if she is okay. She is super cute but I don't know if she will live.

 

[nchls school]

This sounds like a case of, failure to thrive. It is not all that uncommon for some chicks to slowly die at three days of age. At hatch time a chick has absorbed the yolk into its body. This provides the chick with nutrients for the first three days of life. If on the third day the chicks body has not developed correctly it dies as it can't digest food.

Continue with what you're doing. You could try probiotics and electrolytes. Minced hard boiled egg may be beneficial.

If the chick is truly blind you need to decide what is best for the chick. It is a big responsibility and nearly impossible to provide for the needs of a blind bird.
That said, a blind chick may/can learn where food and water is located in its pen. This takes time and patience on your part. With a blind animal, everything must be in the same place always.

I had a favorelle cockerel who went blind due to an infection. He was completely blind for several months. For that time he lived in the kitchen a quickly learned where everything was located and could get food and water on his own.

 

[Abby_]

We took her into the place we got her they said she wasn't blind. She died on the eighth day we still don't know why. She ate tons of bananas and had drank a bit of sugar water. If you know why she died please let me know. Thank you for your help.