Feeding an injured chicken who can’t see

[Erin80]

Hi guys,
I’m really not sure how to go about this. My Ameraucana Fern was attacked by a racoon. Both eyes are swollen shut. I can give her water via a dropper and she does well with that. However I have no idea how to get her to eat. I made scrambled eggs for her, but I don’t think she can smell and she can’t see.....how do I feed this to her??

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Hello! Sorry about your poor little bean . You might have to syringe feed her until her eyes get better - I'm assuming she didn't lose her eyes in the attack...? You can mix her feed or the scrambled eggs with some water to make it soupy enough to push through a syringe. You could also try giving her straight NutriDrench or even maybe mixing it in with whatever you are using to feed her. Sometimes I'll give my littles who need extra help with nutrition hardboiled egg yolk that's been mashed up mixed with water. Good luck! Oh, and if she has an eye infection, the ointment form of teramyacin works wonders with eyes (have used it on gunky kitten eyes and my dove's eye - something weird got in there and it looked infected, but a little bit of teramyacin once or twice a day cleared it right up after a few days or so).

 

[Perris]

This is what I did with a blind/partially sighted chicken: put her in a plastic storage box a bit (not a lot) bigger than she is. Put the food in a relatively small bowl, such that it is filled with food. Hold the bowl by her beak and tap it with your finger, like a broody hen does to teach chicks what to eat. She will hopefully start to dip her beak into the food, and once she's found it, if she's hungry, she'll eat it. You can then put the bowl down in one corner of the box and she can't really miss it. Also the box will contain whatever she flings around, as I assume this feeding session will be going on indoors.