Feeding sight challenged bird

[mamasnowwolf]

Hi all,
I have a 4 month old silver pencil rock cockerel. He is a beautiful bird, but was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes. He can see, but his vision is poor and he often has to try several times to find his food or water. We have been keeping him inside at night in his own large dog kennel. During the day, he is allowed to free range with his companion, a partridge rock pullet. She is the only one who doesn't pluck out his feathers and jump on his back. She will often sit with him, and answer his calls. My problem is how to feed the cockerel when in the cage. An open dish often results in him trying to roost on it, dumping it, or defecating in it. We have a jug now with a large opening but it's made in such a way he can't tip it, but he does move it around. We were considering a feeder you can screw to or hang from the door, but they all seem small and I'm not sure he would be able to find it easily. We would also like another way to provide water. We do have a water bottle hanging on the door of the cage, as well as a jug inside. This has become the pet of both my son and husband. (Mine too I'll admit) Any advice on how we can better help feed and water the bird while in the cage is appreciated. Outside, he seems to do ok. As long as we put things in the same place the've always been, he can find them easily. With winter coming, keeping him outside during the day may not be an option.

 

[kerbotx]

I once had a blind hen, and I trained her to eat while on a roost, so that she got a good meal first thing in the morning, and last thing before bed. (She ranged a bit during the day, too.) She slept in a small pre-fab coop that acted as my quarantine pen, and it had a roost in it. I used 2x4 blocks to elevate a small bowl, that contained a wet mash of her feed & sometimes a chopped up boiled egg. I had to experiment to get the height just right, but she quickly learned to start pecking as soon as I set the bowl down, with lots of verbal cues & pets, too.

The roost seemed to help a great deal, in keeping her oriented to where to expect to find things. She drank from a bottle with a vertical poultry nipple, but she learned how to do that before she lost her vision. Another style of feeder that works with some wire cages if you feed pellets: https://www.chewy.com/kaytee-gravity-bin-mounting-bracket/dp/128994 It's not tiny, but it's not huge.