- Mar 24, 2014
- 90
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Whatever they have started in the brooder. I *think* it came from the brooder getting dirty while I was away over a weekend. The slightly older chick began sneezing, but had no other signs of illness. At the time the chicks had paper towels as bedding while I waited for pine shavings to get in. While I was gone they tore them up and created a mess. (They had a babysitter, but they weren't very experienced and it was an unexpected trip for me) After about a week I noticed the other four chicks in the brooder were also sneezing. Again, no other signs of illness. They were all very active and happy. That was roughly three weeks ago? About two weeks ago I noticed my backyard flock also began sneezing. One chicken got pretty sick and had no appetite for two days, but he's since recovered. I still sometimes catch one or two of them sneezing and scratching their nose afterwards, but it's uncommon enough that I can't confirm it's the illness.
My biggest concern is one of the larger chicks seems to have depth perception issues. I don't think she's blind - she doesn't act like the blind chicken I once had. She can recognize the larger hens easily enough and knows to avoid her. She also sees my hand if I wave it by her face. But she can't seem to pinpoint foods. She attacks to the right of it if it's in my hand. She will go after my fingers, but I can't tell if that's because my fingers are wiggling a bit or the contrast from finger to grass. When she finds it she's good at finding it again, even if that means shoving her right eye into the grass to get half an inch away from the food. I have to help her find the mealworm I'm holding for her and half the time it doesn't seem to 'click' where it is. I genuinely can't figure out how she's blind or what she can't see. She is also still sneezing, especially if she gets excited. I noticed today that the other chicks are also sneezing a bit if they get excited. I was able to contact the breeder who I adopted the blind one from and asked about health issues. They're very fussy about their breeding line and guaranteed that there's no bad genes in their flocks. They're very concerned and want me to keep them updated in case they need to cull some of their flock.
I have the younger chicks isolated from the older ones, and always have except for one incident. I'm not completely sure how the illness got from one flock to the other, but I know it started with some new chickens I got. I adopted five chickens from different sellers at a poultry show. Two of them came down with the illness around the same time (the rooster and the larger chick. I'm pretty sure the brooder got sick first, but now I'm second guessing myself) but it didn't seem to affect the other chickens I got at the same time. In fact the rooster has a bonded hen he's ALWAYS with who never got sick. Before I realized my adult chickens were sick I let the new ones mingle with my established flock a little after quarantine time.
The nearest poultry vet lives over an hour away from me, and is booked out for over a month.
I do can't really afford it after spending nearly a thousand dollars on my aging kitty last week.(The masses on her liver are benign, yay!) Can I do anything for them at home? Is the blindness a fluke, or could it be related to the illness? There's no signs of eye gunk. Can it get better? Did I blind my chicken by not cleaning the coop?? The breeder didn't notice any problems before selling them, and has since had their flock professionally checked by a vet. I have access to animal feed stores. Can I buy something there for them?
The outside flock is 90% fed from whatever they find in the yard, 10% egg layer chicken food and table scraps. They have access to fresh water and chicken food 24/7. The onside chicks are on chick starter and table scraps. They're starting to transition to larger bird food though. It should be noted that while they have plenty of fresh water, they prefer to share the old standing rain water that's full of bugs and other gross stuff with my cats. The longer it's been going stale the better. My cats haven't been ill and all have their shots so it's not them.
My biggest concern is one of the larger chicks seems to have depth perception issues. I don't think she's blind - she doesn't act like the blind chicken I once had. She can recognize the larger hens easily enough and knows to avoid her. She also sees my hand if I wave it by her face. But she can't seem to pinpoint foods. She attacks to the right of it if it's in my hand. She will go after my fingers, but I can't tell if that's because my fingers are wiggling a bit or the contrast from finger to grass. When she finds it she's good at finding it again, even if that means shoving her right eye into the grass to get half an inch away from the food. I have to help her find the mealworm I'm holding for her and half the time it doesn't seem to 'click' where it is. I genuinely can't figure out how she's blind or what she can't see. She is also still sneezing, especially if she gets excited. I noticed today that the other chicks are also sneezing a bit if they get excited. I was able to contact the breeder who I adopted the blind one from and asked about health issues. They're very fussy about their breeding line and guaranteed that there's no bad genes in their flocks. They're very concerned and want me to keep them updated in case they need to cull some of their flock.
I have the younger chicks isolated from the older ones, and always have except for one incident. I'm not completely sure how the illness got from one flock to the other, but I know it started with some new chickens I got. I adopted five chickens from different sellers at a poultry show. Two of them came down with the illness around the same time (the rooster and the larger chick. I'm pretty sure the brooder got sick first, but now I'm second guessing myself) but it didn't seem to affect the other chickens I got at the same time. In fact the rooster has a bonded hen he's ALWAYS with who never got sick. Before I realized my adult chickens were sick I let the new ones mingle with my established flock a little after quarantine time.
The nearest poultry vet lives over an hour away from me, and is booked out for over a month.
I do can't really afford it after spending nearly a thousand dollars on my aging kitty last week.(The masses on her liver are benign, yay!) Can I do anything for them at home? Is the blindness a fluke, or could it be related to the illness? There's no signs of eye gunk. Can it get better? Did I blind my chicken by not cleaning the coop?? The breeder didn't notice any problems before selling them, and has since had their flock professionally checked by a vet. I have access to animal feed stores. Can I buy something there for them?The outside flock is 90% fed from whatever they find in the yard, 10% egg layer chicken food and table scraps. They have access to fresh water and chicken food 24/7. The onside chicks are on chick starter and table scraps. They're starting to transition to larger bird food though. It should be noted that while they have plenty of fresh water, they prefer to share the old standing rain water that's full of bugs and other gross stuff with my cats. The longer it's been going stale the better. My cats haven't been ill and all have their shots so it's not them.
