hatchery chick without eyes

[RubberChickenLubber]

You need to contact Southern28Chick, she has a blind BR that she's raised for a while. She could give you a lot of info on raising a blind chick. That way you could make an informed decision to keep or cull.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Yeah, contact Southern28Chick

 

[Cheep Mama]

Sorry about your new little chick. Hope all is well with the others!! Have fun and enjoy them.

 

[McGoo]

If your lifestyle enables you to care for the chicken and it's many needs over the next years - that's great. This would certainly be a life learning experience for your son.

On the otherhand, there is also a life lesson to be learned if you decide to 'cull' the little one.

All the best in your decision. I really don't know how I would handle the situation.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Everybody comes to their own personal boundary of how much extra care & attention they're willing to give in order to allow a handicapped animal to live. You don't have to feel guilty if your level is set higher or lower than others.

There are humane ways to euthanize chicks that don't require a costly trip to the vet. If you still cannot bear to do it yourself you could see if a local wildlife rescue center or even a pet shop would do it for you. Often they have baby birds or sick parakeets they need to put to sleep.

Personally, I try to determine the quality of life & the amount of suffering the animal has before deciding to cull. If they are in pain or otherwise miserable then it's a kindness to cull them quickly.

You said the blind chick is eating & drinking like the others. Perhaps it's already learned to compensate by listening to & feeling where its companions are going. As long as it's not getting picked upon or pushed away from the food & heat you may be able to keep it together with the rest. At least it won't get its eyes pecked upon!

If you do decide to keep it I would put your teen in charge of any extra care it requires. It would certainly be a learning experience.

And definitely contact MMH to get credit for that chick.

 

[RobinEgg]

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to answer with so much kindness. My son has agreed to assume care of this small guy with the understanding that it MUST be able to eat and drink. We have talked about this and about the quality of life and consequences of it's not eating. So we'll see how it goes today.
Once again our thanks to all for your kindness.

 

[WillsMama93]

Keeping you all in our prayers

 

[fallenweeble]

hmmmm.
here's my two cents.
if the chick was born without eyes, but is able to get around, eat drink etc. then he or she doesn't really know they are "different." i think it would be a different thing if this was a chicken who had sight and then lost it - that would be a much rougher sort of situation. as this chicken will grow up blind, i suspect it's quality of life will be okay, it will learn how to adapt and do things without sight provided you make any necessary adjustments in its living are. i think the idea of raising it with a couple of silkie chicks is a nice one. it would be ideal of the blind chick had friends that he or she could "flock" with. obviously this is one of those decisions that will have much to do with how much time and attention you will be able to put into raising this "special" animal and what your personal feelings about such things are. obviously you are a concerned and sensitive sort of person who takes things seriously and i'm sure whatever decision you make will be a sound one.
good luck!

 

[lizardz]

RobinEgg,
You might try PMing Southern28chick. She has a blind BR hen named Blind Tiny. She's posted about her, so you could either try doing a search or directly posting to her. I'm sure she would be happy to give you guidance on how to deal with a blind chick. Good luck!
Liz

 

[Southern28Chick]

PMed you back RobinEgg...

Here's what I wrote incase other folks would like to know what I did with my Blind Tiny:
Poor thing!

My Blind Tiny has eyes but she is blind. What I did with her was separate her to a corner of the brooder and covered the floor with feed that way she always had food at her feet.

As an adult (almost a year old now) she has her own house and run attached to the main chicken house because the others are very mean to her and have drawn blood pecking at her.

Read up on my threads about Blind Tiny. Here they are.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5049
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5128
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11009
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11371
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11746
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=13711
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14650
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20495
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24488
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=29118

If you ever need any advise just give me a holler. I wouldn't cull, I wanted to with Tiny because she was so sad at first and almost died but she ended up being a very sweet chicken who loves life dispite her handcap.

Tiny's "feeding area"