Blind Broody Hen

[jak2002003]

My blind hen went broody for the first time and is surprisingly doing a great job. This hen always impresses me with her adaptability!

It will be interesting to see how she manages to take care of the chicks. If I does not work out I will bring them up in a brooder, but I will give her a chance.

I think the rooster will help her a lot, as she is best friends with him and they are always together. She gets about by following his tail feathers like a flag. The rooster is always great with baby chicks anyway and will find food for them and make sure the other hens are not nasty to them.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Awesome

 

[theoldchick]

 

[Old English GB]

When are the chickies due

 

[TimBaumann]

That's awesome!!! I'm curious... how does she find her food? Or walk around without running into walls? She must be an amazing hen!

 

[jak2002003]

That's awesome!!! I'm curious... how does she find her food? Or walk around without running into walls? She must be an amazing hen!

I have worked out she can see shadows. She will follow any large moving thing like a person or my dog. She will press her body to it and walk with it. I have to be careful in the run not to step back onto her as she is always trying to sit on my feet.

When she was a pullet I noticed she was not growing and, after watching her, found out she was not eating or drinking properly. She would keep trying to peck in the food or water container but keep missing it, or dunking her entire head into the water and come up spluttering. I thought she was mentally not right, but turned out she was blind.

One funny thing she used to do was walk about long after sunset as if its still daytime when all the other hens are roosting. Now she follows her rooster friend to bed - although it took her a long time to work out how to use the roost (after may jumps and flaps into the coop roof and bouncing off the walls, until she got luck and landed on the roost)

She has learnt to follow the roosters around (with her head in their tails!) and if she gets left behind she will call and the roosters go back to collect her. She also seems to bi pass the pecking order thing and the other hens let her stumble through them to the food pot, and land on them when she is trying to roost.

I just have to make sure the food pot and drinker are in the same place and she can remember where they are - although she still dunks her head into the water after a a few misses!

One last thing I have noticed is that she will sometimes peck at the air over and over again as if she is picking leaves off a plant - but there is nothing there.

She has a great life, but I feel sad as she never has eaten any treats as she cant see to pick them up from the ground.

She has been broody for 5 days so still have some wait for the chicks to hatch.

 

[TimBaumann]

Wow... that hen sure has adapted well! She sound awesome! These types of chicken are always my favorite! The ones that just stand out from the rest. If she hatches those eggs then she is just incredible!

 

[Old English GB]

Have you tried holding treats up to her beak to see if she will take them or offering her crumbles or mash mixed with yogurt for a treat...Seems maybe she just needs a little extra attention to get her treats.

 

[jak2002003]

Have you tried holding treats up to her beak to see if she will take them or offering her crumbles or mash mixed with yogurt for a treat...Seems maybe she just needs a little extra attention to get her treats.

I have tried. I have put mealworm up to her face, rubbed her beak with them, but she just can not see what the heck I am doing and what the things are. I tried putting some in the normal feed bowl, but she won't eat them because she is used to sinking her head deep into the layers pellets and shaking her head about. The mealworms just are not 'deep' enough! She does not recognise other food pots and won't use them.

She seem happen enough with the layers pellets for now.