caring for our blind feathered friends ?

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Hello! This is probably not the right category at all, I’ve been known to put threads in the wrong spot quite a bit in the past lol. but this is not an emergency situation so I didn’t know where to put it.
Long story short I have a Mille fleur hen named Dolly who is around 2-3 years old. Dolly is mostly blind, but doing well, and lives a normal life. She’s a bit on the petite side but isn’t thin, and lives with another Mille fleur hen who is either a little blind or just not particularly bright. Dolly’s vision seems to be getting a little worse and I wanted to pick people’s brains on things they do to support their blind birds, seeing as it’s a pretty common occurrence. Any tips, tricks, or similar stories ?

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

hahah yeah your probably right and it’s not something to worry about, she’s just a bit thin for my liking. Especially compared to my other d’Uccles which are more on the hefty side

 

[FrankieDoodle]

I had an elderly blind silkie for a short time. I think she was completely blind, even when it came to light and shadows, or things moving close to her face. She didn’t walk around a lot and big spaces confused her, so her run was a lot smaller than the recommended size for a chicken.

I built a small (53” x 72” x 53”) run out of 2x4s and chicken wire. Everything was built with panels, so it would be easy to add or subtract a few, depending on how many birds go in there in the future.
The roof was pretty much the same, only I added wonderboard to the top to keep the rain out. I wouldn’t recommend it for places that rain a lot, but it’s worked pretty well here.

The coop was built on the ground with the door coming down as a makeshift ramp. The roof had hinges so it could open and close for easier access.
I think the dimensions were around 24” x 25” x 26”.

I fenced off half of the run with a small fence to keep her from getting lost and/or confused, and after finding her stuck in the gaps once, I added chicken wire to keep that from happening again.

As for food and water, I used a raised food and water dish, like something you’d use for cats. It took me a few tries to get the size right, but I think I ended up sticking to the smaller size?
I kept it in the same two spots, one in the coop for when she went to bed, and one in the run in the daytime. It took her a few days to find where everything was, but eventually she was able to get to the food and water herself. I tried bell training her, but that didn’t work 100% of the time.

I kept her separate from the other birds, but she was right next to one of my other runs, so she could still talk to them.

Sorry, everything’s kind of scattered around. I think I got all of the important things.

 

[Callender Girl]

I have no advice but admire you for taking care of them. I have no experience with blind birds, but I have a cat who was born without eyes and recently adopted a blind rescue dog.

In both cases, I make sure to keep feed and water dishes in the same place, as well as not moving furnishings. I would guess that sort of consistency would be good for blind birds, too.

It seems that the dog's previous owner did some sort of clicker training with him (too cheap for a clicker, I just snap my fingers), and I've read about people who use clicker training with chickens, so maybe that's an option?

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Thank you yeah luckily She can eat on her own, but I’m careful to keep everything of hers in the same place. I just wish there was things I could do to make things easier for her

 

[Callender Girl]

You care about and for her. Maybe that's enough?

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

wow cool thank you ! She was lucky to have such an attentive owner it seemed like she was really living the life. Was she ever really social? Beyond talking to the birds outside of her pen, my bird seems to take visual cues from her pen-mate.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

wow cool thank you ! She was lucky to have such an attentive owner it seemed like she was really living the life. Was she ever really social? Beyond talking to the birds outside of her pen, my bird seems to take visual cues from her pen-mate.

Not really. She spoke to the other birds a little bit, but didn’t really seem to care about anyone until we put a few surprise chicks in the run with her. It was supposed to only be temporary, but she loved those guys. I found out around a year later that she used to hatch and raise a lot of chicks before I got her, which definitely explained why she was such a good mother to them.

She was only around for a month or two, so she might’ve gotten more social as time went on.

 

[neo71665]

I wish ya best of luck but I don't have the time. If it was me care would involve seasonings and a pressure cooker.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Lol I get your opinion but that is definitely not an option for me. Her quality of life isn’t suffering enough for me to consider putting her down, and even if I was she wouldn’t be food, my bantam flocks are pets