Can A One Eyed Chicken Adjust And Live A Normal Life?

[rmyer]

Hello, my rooster recently lost an eye. I am a nurse and did a fine job in taking care of him and it has healed up nicely. However yesterday it was time to let him out of his holding pen for the first time,lovely day and all that. Well the poor boy walked in circles going to the left trying to scan to compensate for the lack of vision on the left side. Will he be able to compensate and adjust? He actually plopped over from making himself dizzy! Poor boy. By evening, he had made it into the coop with the others. Any advice?

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

He can certainly learn to adjust. We have a year old Leghorn hen that lost an eye and she did the same thing. It takes them a little while but the learn to compensate. She is in our large free range area with 50 or so other birds and she gets around fine. She lays nearly every day and can fly up onto all the different structures without any problem.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Poor little guy- sounds like he was lucky to have a nurse to look after him. Your situation is a bit different form my experiences with one eyed poultry- as he origainllay had two eyes and now has to learn to adjust to his new way of life. I have had two ducks each having only one eye since they hatched. Both were completely normal, just missing an eye. They didnt have any weird behaviour, and lived normal lives. I would think in time he will come to compensate for his missing eye, but maybe some extra attention for a while is warranted. Just to make sure the others arent picking on him, and that he is eating enough as well.

 

[The Chicken People]

I just rescued a hen that is blind in one eye and it seems to do fine!

 

[Lollipop]

Yup, I have a rooster that is about 3yo. Missing an eye since a youngster, but does fine. It does make him easier to catch, LOL........Pop

 

[Andi]

Do you have other roosters? Although I have no doubt he will adjust just fine, he is still handicapped. As Lollipop mentioned, he will be easier to catch, and that goes for creatures other than humans, too. The biggest risk that I can see is another rooster keeping him in his place.

I'm glad to hear he has recovered from his injury. Best of luck for the rest of his adventures.

 

[thedoors5to1]

we have a rooster at one of my jobs that has been missing an eye for almost 5 years now, he freaks out when he realizes your on his bad side trying to herd him in for the night, but he's adjusted fine and i think hes happy.

good luck