Blind hen

[Hollywood Chickens]

Ok so I know that my hen is now blind in one eye, but what do I do with her now??
The other hen's still peck her sometimes, but can she free range? or go in an uncovered run? will she be able to catch bugs?

 

[gritsar]

I have a half blind hen, blind in her right eye. She free ranges with my flock. When she was younger I had to keep a check on her location when she would get seperated from the flock. Now she's learned to head back to the coop area if she gets seperated. She usually has another one of my chickens, Lilith, with her at all times. I think Lilith senses something's not right with Lil'Bit and she looks out for her. My roo is also very patient with Lil'Bit and lets her try and try to peck a treat out of his beak, even when it means he'll get pecked in the face 20 times until she connects her beak with treat.
I provided her with a special nestbox on the floor of the coop so she wouldn't have to jump up to the others, but she ignores the special one and jumps up.
Two things I watch for. I keep a check on her weight and supplement when necessary. Also, she cannot see to get on a roost at night because dim light really decreases what little vision she has. She waits by the door of the coop for me and I put her on a roost each night.
ETA: It takes about twice as much work for Lil' Bit to feed herself when foraging, but she manages.
Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

thank you so much for all of this info!!!
My hen's free range most of the time so I am glad to know that she will still be able to.
There is one hen --Snowball -- that keeps pecking her eye is there anyway that I can protect her from the pecking?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Dang that Snowball! I can't think of anyway to protect the eye. Anywhere else but the eye and I'd say pine tar.
Hopefully she won't lose the eye to pecking.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

I have used pine tar on other injuries it works great! but yeah for her eye all that I have been doing is when I am there and she start I push her away.
tonight is the first night since she lost her eyesight that she is sleeping in the coop so I hope that she is ok.

 

[mandelyn]

I had a rooster that was about totally blind, and kept him caged. He used other senses to get his food and water... which I always put in the same place, and would "show" him. He could hear great!

All the other chickens were mean to him, so I would spend time with him outside the cage to get him exercised.

Then I got this full size Frizzle hen, that no one would accept into their free range group. My flock would break down to groups of 3-5, and she wasn't allowed to join with anyone.

So I put her into the cage with "Squinty". She stood about a foot taller than him, him being a Silver Seabright and a little one at that.

She would show him food, and then he'd give it back to her being a gentleman. But she babied him, and so I turned them out together. She'd catch the bugs, and give them to him.

So Squinty and Frizz bonded, and Squinty got to free range all day like a "real" chicken and was only caged at night. I ended up selling them to an older couple that wanted them as novelty pets because it reminded them of their relationship.

So blind in one eye? Totally managable.

 

[chesapeakechick]

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Thanks so much for sharing "Squinty and Frizz's" story. It made my day!

 

[vbgarden]

Mandelyn, that's just a great story!

 

[mdbokc]

These are great stories that contribute to feeling good for the day. Love this website.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

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Thanks for the great story and encouragement