Deaf Chicken!

[lovemy6hens]

 How is your Lucy doing? 

Sorry I could not be of more help.  I still miss Clucker after all these years! 

Thank you for your kind replies! Lucy is doing well. Still deaf, I believe.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Glad to hear Lucy is doing well- deaf or not! Love that name by the way!

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Almost didn't see your reply.. it was tucked at the bottom of the previous thread page.

I'm sorry to hear about the coyote attack... I know the feeling, and it is devastating. I still remember the horror when Clucker did not come home to roost that day. Like you said, you feel lucky to have shared time and space with them. Such personality!

I love my chickens, but I feel as though I torture myself by having them- as in, there is always one that I care about greatly on its way out or getting hit by a car or picked off by a predator- sooner or later. It keeps my anxiety levels up... and once I get them down, something happens again! After 6 years, I'm better at handing this, but I've not grown much of a farmer's thick skin yet. I heard that farm life consists of sex, death and poop. (Breeding, disease/predator/illness, and lots of cleaning up of dung). I only have chickens, but I have found this to be true. Just lost a favorite this week, and already there are replacements hatching... (if there ever could be such a thing- each one of them is unique). Cleaned the coop about two weeks ago, and yet I need to get back out there again..soon!

Love that shuffle dance too. I have a roo that greets me every time with respectful wing side smacks, and I reciprocate... well, of course, not with wings but with my arms patting my sides. I know its his way of respecting me and saying hello... who cannot love that?

 

[lovemy6hens]

Glad to hear Lucy is doing well- deaf or not!    Love that name by the way!

Thank you very much!

I should add that Lucy is an easter egger, if it helps anyone looking through this thread.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Thank you very much!

I should add that Lucy is an easter egger, if it helps anyone looking through this thread.

Is she by any chance the pretty hen in your avatar? What a lovely hen!

 

[lovemy6hens]

Is she by any chance the pretty hen in your avatar?   What a lovely hen! 

Thank you. That's Dirty Birdie in my avatar. She had a tumor and had to be put to sleep a few months ago. Lucy followed her everywhere and seemed completely lost for about a month after Dirty Birdie didn't come home.

EDIT: I called her my bock-bock. Funny that's part of your user name @Bocktobery 10!

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Thank you. That's Dirty Birdie in my avatar. She had a tumor and had to be put to sleep a few months ago. Lucy followed her everywhere and seemed completely lost for about a month after Dirty Birdie didn't come home.

EDIT: I called her my bock-bock. Funny that's part of your user name @Bocktobery 10 !

I'm sorry to hear she has passed.. She looks like such a sweetie, very pretty hen! I understand about Lucy seeming lost- I've witnessed the same with my flock- Some have 'buddies' that when one goes, the other seems to be affected. Its a curious yet sad thing to witness.

Ha.. yeah, my user name... I had no idea what name to choose. It was October 2010 when I signed up and tried to make the name 'chickeny'.

 

[lovemy6hens]

I'm sorry to hear she has passed.. She looks like such a sweetie, very pretty hen!   I understand about Lucy seeming lost-  I've witnessed the same with my flock-  Some have 'buddies' that when one goes, the other seems to be affected.  Its a curious yet sad thing to witness.  

  Ha.. yeah, my user name...   I had no idea what name to choose.  It was October 2010 when I signed up and tried to make the name 'chickeny'.

Thank you.

I like the backstory on user names and yours is neat!

 

[sariea]

Sorry again not to comment on your post until now.

Yeah, it seems like your Blue ((I had one named Blue too!) is deaf too. I'm starting to realize that when chickens get affectionate, they may actually not be feeling well as several times now I've had it when a hen gets sick it comes up to me and kind of lingers, almost as if it wants something. My Clucker was very affectionate, I believe because she was very stressed. I now have a blind chick and she also is very cuddly, I think because it must be so stressful having to do without one of the primary senses. Chickens are by instinct very alert creatures, but what would happen if they could not hear or see? I would think that would increase, not that they realize they have been born without a sense but because things might just naturally be seeming difficult for them. I don't remember if I commented on this, but Clucker my deaf hen attacked me one night while it was dark and I was moving them around- None of the other hens were bothered, but she was. I bet she had NO inkling to tell her what is touching her and picking her up was me, while the other hens could hear my voice, she could not.

My blind chick also stood in the same spot for hours with her head down. She is now moving around but she runs into everything. She nods her head back and forth and peeps every second while she walks around. I have a hunch she is using it to echo locate objects. I noticed she got ins circles around the cage walls.

How is your Blue doing?

She is doing fine. I still wonder sometimes if she's deaf or just focuses so much on what she's doing that she ignores everything else. I'm tending to lean more towards the latter only because when I yell at her (usually to get down from places she shouldn't be), she seems to notice.

Your blind chick sounds sweet. Was she born that way? I know someone whose hens got attacked and one of them ended up blind. They had to keep it inside to give it food and water until it kind of learned how to move around on its own.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I'm happy to hear your (possibly) deaf hen is doing fine. With my deaf hen, I thought maybe she could hear too... but then realized she might be reacting from watching the other hens react to my voice. Meaning, I yell something out and the other hens that are with her react and thus she reacted too... so it was very difficult to tell. I suppose you could put her in a quiet room at night, lighted, and then blast a horn behind her or something- if she flinches/moves then you know she's got some hearing... lol.. Just trying to be a little humourous there, but it probably would say for sure if she is compleately deaf or not.

I know that my deaf hen seemed to heavily rely on the others to inform her what was going on. At night she would be much more visibly stressed than the others- to the point of attacking anything that moved.

My blind chick was born that way. She is a little sweetie... tiny too. I think she had a condition called AE (I already forget what that was), but she definately has some neurological issues... i know that there were some problems with teh formation of some of the chicks in the eggs that never hatched, so its probably either some sort of pathogen or least likely genetic- though its possible. Hard to say without testing of course... I'm just glad to have her. Yeah, that poor hen that was attacked... I'm certain of this- a chicken loosing its sight is a very serious thing since it seems that is their strongest sense. They rely so heavily on it. I know with my blind chick she is still having difficulty learning 'the ropes' as they say. She's getting there slowly. Honestly, having her reminds me of the story of Hellen Keller and her teacher. She can hear, but she has not really learned yet what I'm trying to say..> i think she gets the jist of it, but is still not sure of what exactly she is supposed to do... if even she wants to listen to me! She is just under five weeks old, but she is just now starting to eat better on her own. The sad thing is I can tell she gets really stressed sometimes and also really frustrated. Its got to be severely difficult- you know how flighty chickens are already, I'm sure.