Blind Chicken or Illness??

[RandiKodiak]

My husband made a joke that he thought one of our chicks was blind earlier today because it seemed like it couldn't find the door and kept running strait into the wall... I know chicks are silly sometimes but came out to check anyway... I was in the run doing since work and this chick made her way into the run with a couple others and then couldn't find her way out. She kept running into the wall and water dish... i picked her up and when I move my hands around her eyes she doesn't seem to flinch... could she be blind or could it be an infection or something? Her eyelids (or whatever they are called) seem bigger in the bottom than the other chickens. It was windy when I tried to get the pic and she kept closing them too...

Then, every night the chickens put themselves to bed in the coop in the roosts and then we go out right at dark and lock them up.

Tonight, I went out to lock them up and only counted 9, so one missing. That's never happened before. I start looking in the run andv under the coop suspecting that it might be the one I checked out earlier but couldn't find her. We have 7 acres but the chickens have only been here a month and haven't ventured more than a 30ft radius around the coop.. I finally found her way far away from where they have ever been.. I was calling her and she came cautiously walking toward me like you do when you are in the dark and can't see.. I put her on the roost and watched her and she literally took a step not realizing she was up and fell off. It is clear she can't see. She's about 16 weeks and we never noticed anything until today.

Could she have been born blind, went bind today, or have some kind of infection or disease?

I put her in a cardboard box in the garage for the night.

 

[chickenshiha]

I also have this problem too they dont see but the eyes are normal color hope someone helps

 

[Dharmachick]

I have this problem too. My chick is a beautiful red-laced blue Wyandotte, and I worry constantly. She is about 3 and a half weeks old, and is growing, so she is getting enough to eat and drink. I have her in a small coop with a run, and and there are 2 chicks in with her to keep her company. I let the rest of the chickens roam the backyard. I guess I should just let her out with the others when she is big enough and see how she does. It is cool here at night, so the chicks go back into the heated brooder at night. What did you guys do with your blind chickens?

 

[microchick]

Does her left eye look like her right eye? If it does, I don't see any defects in the eye. Usually the affected eye will 'look' different. The eye will be cloudy, the pupil size distinctly different, etc.

I have ocular Marek's in my flock and several chickens are blind in the MD eyes. Ususally just one eye and yes, they have problems with depth perception, objects in their path, etc. Jumping up on the roost is hard for them and some cope better than others.

If your girl is blind she will do better in a confined space and yes, she will need your care finding food and water. IMHO she is not a candidate for free ranging but will do better in a run area of her own. Also I would keep a chicken or two with her for company. She will follow the sighted chickens around by sense of sound.

Good luck. I hope she isn't blind but it does sound as though she has some defect. With help she can adapt.

 

[Dharmachick]

Both her eyes look normal, with no cloudiness, and she does well with the two chicks I have her with. I was planning on building a coop in a 10 x 10 area that I fenced off to allow the grass to grow back. There are three in the brooder right now, and one looks like a roo, since his comb is much pinker than the other wyandotte. I had hoped to breed her, but won't now, she will be my special girl. I have another special chicken so I hope to put them together.

 

[microchick]