Dementia in Chickens

[carrierose]

Has anyone every heard of a chicken getting dementia? I have an 8 1/2 year old hen who gets lost every time she is outside. She wanders around in her own la la land world & every night I have to put her in her coop because she forgot to put herself to bed. Other than this she seems to be healthy. Up until the fall molt she was still giving me 3 eggs a week. She does have a tendency to run into wire fences when I am trying to catch her at night so it is possible she may be going bind as well.
These are my 2 special hens, Topper (on the left) & Sophie (on the right). Sophie is the one that appears to have dementia. Both are 8 1/2 years old and came from the same hatching litter. They look bad because they are molting.

 

[sourland]

Her behavior sounds as if she may very well be going blind.

 

[DarkWater1929]

I have a rooster, who developed cataracts as a chick. He still sees light and shadow, so he can get to his food and water, if they are in the right spot. But, before we realized what was up with him, he acted like what you describe. Poor babies! But, so long as they can eat and drink, and are safe from vermin and other chickens (chickens are so mean to each other!) they should still enjoy life. My rooster seems to!

 

[cate1124]

Has anyone every heard of a chicken getting dementia? I have an 8 1/2 year old hen who gets lost every time she is outside. She wanders around in her own la la land world & every night I have to put her in her coop because she forgot to put herself to bed. Other than this she seems to be healthy. Up until the fall molt she was still giving me 3 eggs a week. She does have a tendency to run into wire fences when I am trying to catch her at night so it is possible she may be going bind as well.
These are my 2 special hens, Topper (on the left) & Sophie (on the right). Sophie is the one that appears to have dementia. Both are 8 1/2 years old and came from the same hatching litter. They look bad because they are molting.

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I know this is an old post, but thought I would share my experience. I have a 9-year-old barred rock with a heart murmur. In addition to becoming more sedentary and losing appetite, she is behaving in ways that suggest dementia: Standing under the roost when she comes in at night, walking slowly around the yard when the flock is out, but on her own, not keying off them, sometimes standing in the same position for hours. Humans with heart issues can develop cardiogenic dementia, and I suspect she may have done same. In people, it develops from chronic low blood flow to the brain and/or inflammation related to the heart disease itself.