Fixing eye sight

Cayuga momma

♡Ducks♡, enough said.
Mar 13, 2018
2,382
7,459
462
Western NY
Is there any way to improve an 18 month old hens eyesight?

They are pecking and missing the food.

I've been giving Nutri-drench, hard boiled eggs, electrolytes.

Some of my girls eyesight has improved and others I'm still concerned about.

They are on a mixed diet of finisher crumbles, rolled oats, and blackoil sunflower seeds adding up to 18% protein (using the pearson square)

They also free range after 1pm

Does anyone have any advice on other things I can do to improve their eyesight?

Their eyes themself are normal, no swelling or leaking. No odd shaped pupils.

They are underweight, but otherwise seem healthy.

Thank you
 
Have you ever had any illnesses in your flock when they were young? Has there ever been an ammonia odor in you coop that might have caused eye problems? Can you post any pictures of the eyes in the affected chickens? Is there any cloudy eye?
 
These girls where adopted. I have only had them 2 months now. Its nothing contagious or mine would have contracted it since they have been integrated for about a month.
No ammonia in my coop. Its a 10' x 10' x 15' shed with 10 chicken and 2 ducks. Flooring pdz then pine shavings then straw on the top.
They have been having this issues since I brought them home.
I believe its a nutritional deficiency thing.
Like I said some have improved, but other have not.
 
Some causes of eye disorders are vitamin deficiencies (vitamin A or E,) being exposed to epidemic tremor or avian encephalomyelitis as a chick before 3 weeks of age, ammonia odors which can cause ulceration of the cornea, Mareks disease, and infections or injuries. Do any of your chickens have feather faces? My salmon faverolles rooster cannot see well at all due to his large beard. Polish chickens also have problems seeing. Do you know what the previous own fed his chickens?
 
They are leghorns
No feather face
She gave me a bag of layer pellets that are in a plain white bag with no labels or writing. I have since transitioned over to what my girls eat because they were really underweight.

I have been giving Nutri-drench and hard boiled eggs, I was hoping others had any input on anything else I could give to help fix their eyesight.
 
Since your birds are adopted and possibly not knowing their history; it's possible their eyesight is fine. It's just that they arnt able to pick up feed because they cant swallow the feed due to trichomoniasis or wet pox lesions in the mouth or esophagus. Open their mouths and look for yellow or necrotic looking lesions and smell their breath for a bad odor.
Hopefully everything will look/smell normal.:)
 
Since your birds are adopted and possibly not knowing their history; it's possible their eyesight is fine. It's just that they arnt able to pick up feed because they cant swallow the feed due to trichomoniasis or wet pox lesions in the mouth or esophagus. Open their mouths and look for yellow or necrotic looking lesions and smell their breath for a bad odor.
Hopefully everything will look/smell normal.:)
Thanks, I can check again un the morning, but I have checked them thoroughly when I got them and again at the beginning of October.
Other than one having a bad case of bumblefoot they haven't shown any signs of disease. Even their poop has been normal.
I will let you know in the morning about their mouths and breath.

The only other thing I can think of is their feathers are still nasty even after several baths and blow dries.
They don't have fluffy butts like the girls I raised, their butt fluff and feathers underneath are just greasy and they are matted together.
I didn't think that could have anything to do with their eyesight other than Nutrition problems.
 
"Greasy and matted fluff/feathers." It makes me wonder what their previous living conditions were. Not good I imagine or maybe vent gleet. Did you try Dawn dish detergent?
 
Yep. I first tried poultry wash, then dawn dish detergent, then neutrogena anti-residue shampoo. I scubbed and scrubbed. I even used a toothbrush. It helped their wing, chest, and back feathers, but not the other areas.

Their coop was too small. They were free ranged and I guess there was a junk yard near by that they would go to.

To get the birds to come they pulled out a box of special k cereal and were feeding them. I almost lost my sh*t.

I will take pics tomorrow so you guys can get a better idea of what I'm working with.

One girl has no tail feathers because they have all been picked out.
I use my phone for BYC and I just got a new one so I don't have any pics on here now of when I got them, but I can post some pics of them recently.

They have been laying great eggs since their second day with me.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom