Half closed eyes? [pictures included]

[ozu]

I have one chicken- an Australorp, who tends to keep her eyes half shut... she doesn't seem to have any issues or symptoms sickness or disease-wise, (she came from a very reputable farm and has all of her vaccinations as well)... so I have no idea why she does this...?

The eyes do not look swollen or bruised or damaged or anything of the sort, she just hardly (if ever) opens them fully. I am thinking maybe she has sight issues? Or a defect? I don't know, this is my first-ever flock but I've looked up a lot of causes of eye issues and I just don't know because she has no swelling or discharge or anything of the like.

I dunno if this is relevant but she's a lot more.. "peck-y" than the others.. she pecked my face the other day, which really surprised me because she's really sweet. I think she may have been trying to peck my glasses but missed and got my cheek instead. She has a habit of trying to eat my hand instead of treats as well. Whenever people want to feed the chickens by hand, I have to insist they avoid Laurel or make sure they have a LOT of food in their hand do she doesn't latch on to their hand and try to rip a piece of skin off! I've tried testing her sight but I don't know because she has some at least.


More information... her personality has not changed at all (except she is slightly more friendly- assuming because I work with her and she is maturing), she's not slowing down at all, she's not lethargic- today she flew on to my knee just fine and partook in a spaz-session with the other chickens (running around their brooder and flying at each other).. and she's.. just as normal as the others, except for her eyes. She's growing just fine, she's probably my biggest chicken- not including the meaties (that's what I call the Cornish Rocks). She's well-groomed and her color looks fine as well... and her poops are normal as well. None of the other chickens do this eye thing.

We have had her since she was this size:





(That was when we first brought her home, with a Barred Rock and Easter Egger... gosh, it's crazy looking at this picture when she's so much larger now.)

She seems to have been doing it for a while but I never really noticed because she does it more so now. Here's her growing up- the last of the three pics is about a month ago... see, she's kind of doing it but it's not like her currently..







Here's a week or so ago...



And here's her yesterday.. She was a little sleepy in this picture- she doesn't always have them closed THIS much, but if she settles down and is about to sleep, when she looks at me, she barely opens her eyes.



Oh, and here is her a couple hours ago, from the other side:



And here are the most recent pics, more recently than the one from a few hours ago.




And here's a video! Please ignore my baby-talk. I love Laurel and I wanted my friend to see how her eyes always look like the stinkeye. I always baby talk her like this because she looks at me funny (even if she didn't have the stinkeye, 'cause I do it with my Barred Rock rooster too).

Anyway, what do you guys think is up with her eyes?​

 

[ozu]

Anyone? Laurel and I are very curious to what some of you think. She's still doing fine today. Just looking as grumpy and suspicious as usual!
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[annewandering]

Does she do it equally in the sun and in the shadows?

 

[ozu]

Does she do it equally in the sun and in the shadows?

Yes, she seems to do it no matter where she is!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

She has the same "lazy eyed" look my standard Cochins had. They could see just fine, just looked like big, lazy, sleepy birds
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Her eyes look nice and clear so I wouldn't suspect a vision problem. One of those standard Cochins was blind in one eye and it was pretty obvious. The bad eye was cloudy. She'd also lean, walk, look and peck in the direction of her good eye. If you're not seeing anything like that, I'd guess she just has a little more pizazz than the other girls

 

[ozu]

She has the same "lazy eyed" look my standard Cochins had. They could see just fine, just looked like big, lazy, sleepy birds

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Her eyes look nice and clear so I wouldn't suspect a vision problem. One of those standard Cochins was blind in one eye and it was pretty obvious. The bad eye was cloudy. She'd also lean, walk, look and peck in the direction of her good eye. If you're not seeing anything like that, I'd guess she just has a little more pizazz than the other girls

That's a relief to hear! Do you have any pics of the Cochins? I'd love to see more sleepy-eyed chickies <3
I wonder if she'll always have this silly look- did your Cochins always have it or did any grow out of it?

Sometimes she misses things when she pecks and bites my hand instead of food but sometimes the others do too so I'm assuming she might just be misjudging before she goes after it c:

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

If you go to my profile page, there should be some pictures of them in my photo album

My Cochins actually grew into the lazy eyes, I guess you could say. Their eyes started out looking normal, like your chick, and as they got bigger they changed.

All of mine do that too. They don't always get what they're pecking at

 

[happyfrenchman]

Some birds will close their eyes when they are thirsty or dehydrated.

 

[ozu]

If you go to my profile page, there should be some pictures of them in my photo album

My Cochins actually grew into the lazy eyes, I guess you could say. Their eyes started out looking normal, like your chick, and as they got bigger they changed.

All of mine do that too. They don't always get what they're pecking at

Awww, your chickies are all so cute and adorable! <3 I almost looked into getting Cochins actually- before I found out the local farm had Silkies (and those were what I initially wanted). How are they? Hmm, that's so strange though, this eye thing.

Some birds will close their eyes when they are thirsty or dehydrated.

Huh, could she not be drinking enough? My chickens ALWAYS have fresh water available (such a pain changing it so much but what's gotta be done gets done of course!) so it'd be on her I'd think, whether she was dehydrated or not. (I imagine it would be dehydrated before thirsty because her eyes are ALWAYS like this.) But I just looked up dehydration and she isn't really showing any other signs. I'll try the '-If you gently pinch the back of the shank (lower leg) the skin will not spring back as usual, much like the test performed on dehydrated humans.' tomorrow morning just to double check. I should mention that they get vitamins in their water a couple times a week, and that's something they say to help with dehydration so it'd be weird I'd think, if any of the chickens had this issue?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My Cochins were great birds. They were super friendly. My daughter would carry our rooster around like a baby, and he was a big ol brute!

I ended up selling the standards, I still have bantams though. I got rid of my standards bc they were killing me in feed. Those chickens ate a ton (understandably so, they were huge). They were constantly broody, which was only a problem bc they were my main breed and its hard to let hens brood when you don't have any eggs for them to sit on.

I adore my bantam Cochins. They live with my Silkies, and are just adorable. My little frizzled hen is a fabulous layer. She typically only takes one day off each week. My bantams hardly eat anything, a 50lb bag of feed goes a long way. Anyway, obviously I really love my Cochins And my Silkies, they're my two fav breeds for sure!