Help!!! Chick with no eyes???

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Thank you for your input. I think those of us who have a "special needs" chicken are in a unique position to expound on the responsibilities of caring for them. I also think that it's very different for a flock animal than for a dog or cat plus different for one that is considered a prey animal as well. Zane knows he is extremely vulnerable. When he is out in the yard sunning in warm weather and he sees birds flying overhead or hears crows or a hawk, he raises up as high as he can and looks for one of us to come. At least, he can see danger, though, whereas a blind bird can only hear (if it can hear-you may not know that yet--it is correct about there possibly being other unknown defects in the baby) I don't like for Zane to be so frightened, knowing he has no means of escape, so we usually are very close by when he is outside.

 

[frog30117]

Reading these posts has been very helpful. I recently had a chick born like that. I keep the food and water in the same place, and show it where it is. It hangs out with the other chicks and doesn't seem to have any other problems. I don't free range my birds, and I'm almost always home, so unless it appears to be suffering, I plan to raise it. It's been here a few days now.

 

[Kyzmette]

I'd love to hear about Chance and if this worked out for the chickie. I have a special needs chicken most people would have culled, and she is now the most loving darling chicken one could ever hope for. She's the ruler of the coop, and at the top of the pecking order. That's a long way to come for a chicken I found dehydrated, and in shock, with a broken hip that had the potential to never heal. She has also rewarded me by becoming one of the best layers, because she's become convinced she's part ostrich. She gives me a super-jumbo egg every single day except the middle of the winter. She's a hopping, pecking, egg-laying QUEEN!

 

[ThaiDye]

I recently had a chick born without eyes. It was a creme legbar that I hatched myself from eggs I bought online. These were "supposedly" Greenfire line birds, but I had terrible luck with them. I buy & hatch shipped eggs all the time & never had such a bad hatch rate as these.
I honestly didn't read everything posted here, but was wondering if something like that (deformity) could be caused by inbreeding or bad humidity during incubation. While hatching those eggs, I was staggering hatches so it *may* have been my fault. I plan never to stagger again unless I have a second incubator designated for hatching only.
Incidently, my chick lived about 3 weeks then died. I haven't been able to cull a bird quite yet, so this was kind of a relief that it didn't survive. I don't have the time for a special needs bird like that. For those of you who cull, what's the best way?

 

[gander007]

Wow what a tuff call let it live or cull that is your decision
but it is true even a blind pet can learn it's yard but not
for much else good luck, pore thing .....


gander007

 

[frog30117]

Mine died. I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.