eye problem in mille fleur

[cathyl]

My 2 year old mille fleur hen seems to be losing her vision. She pecks to the side of her food and does not do a good job at eating. It almost seems like cortical visual impairment (I work with VI students) from a possible head injury which occurred about a year ago. It all started when she flew out of the coop and (possibly) hit her head and definitely injured a leg. Thing is, whatever it is just started showing up as a visual problem in the last month and has quickly progressed. She spends much of the day eating dry food but seems to miss most of it and her crop is not full. Hand feeding is difficult since she misses it, and gives up in frustration. She is not completely blind. She doesn't seem to have good depth perception, can't navigate steps and ends up flapping her wings at the last minute to avoid falling. Has anyone else experienced such a thing?

 

[FeistyPeepers]

Hey Cathy,


I wonder if trying to give her some yogurt with her dry feed sprinkled on top in a shallow but wider in diameter bowl would help her to eat easier. The contrast in colors in the bowl might help. We have 2 chicks that are my special babies because they both nearly died at a week old. They were so weak & droopy. I held them daily for hours & gave them yogurt, even dipping their beaks into the yogurt. My thumb nails are kinda long so I'd scoop some of the water with electrolytes & pour it into their mouths. I refused to give up on them and they're thriving beautiful my Bebe Blue & Bebe Brahma. That yogurt is an amazing trick! Put in a few mealworms for crunch. Hope this helps her.

 

[Eowyn]

This could be because she isn't getting enough vitamin A. I don't have any experience with this, this is just what I've heard.