Hen blind in one eye

[demonic]

We have a black Australorp hen who gets bullied. The bullying got better over time so we didn’t think much of it anymore. Around 2 weeks ago we saw one of her eyes was closed, I believe on her right side. One of her eyes was closed like this before and we put ointment using a Q tip and it eventually healed. When we saw this happen again, we immediately started applying ointment like we did the last time. It didn’t really work. She gets bullied a lot now, and stays in the coop all day. This is because today we realized that she is blind in the eye closed, as we saw her open it a little and the eye was cloudy and white. We aren’t sure exactly what caused her partial blindness. She gets bullied a lot but around the evening we let her out by herself a little and feed her food and water as she doesn’t get much of it during the day with the other hens. She has will to eat and drink, and her poop is relatively normal which we are happy and blessed to see. The problem is since she is blind in that one eye, she sometimes trips over herself and stumbles, losing balance. This makes her an automatic target for the other hens. We don’t know how to take care of a partially blind chicken as we’d never had one before. Anybody know any tips and tricks?? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

[demonic]

Also, since she stays in the coop all day as to not get bullied, her feathers aren’t in the best shape(they’re not too bad, but we don’t want it to get worse) , also because she cannot preen as well since she cannot see in that one eye. Staying in the coop takes a toll on her physical, as well as mental health as she wants chicken socialization but she is scared to come out.

 

[CFLRanching]

Awe, poor girl. So we have a few experiences with blind roosters. One was same as yoursn kept getting beat up by the other boys, they would go for his eyes (isn't that crazy). After rescuing him a couple times we finally made the decision to keep him completely separate from any adult birds, they just wouldn't leave him alone. He's so docile, super sweetn he stays in the pen with all the babies and young birds until we transition them (so we call him the grandpa chicken) and he stayed with our meat birds before we processed. One eyelid is scarred so bad it is hardly opens, the other i think his vision is definetly effected. But he gets around, eats and drinks so he's safe and happy where we have him.

The other rooster has a blind eye on one side (cloudy like yours) but he's a salmon favorelle so he's really big (but a scaredy cat). But he stays with our flock no problem. Not sure if his was from a fight or an injury some other way.

We do have a hen that is a bantam OEG mix that has a recessed sinus and eye, but she's never had any issues with flockmates.

Ultimately you either have to keep your girl safe by separating (which is sad because they are social) or rehoming. It doesn't sound like her flockmates are being very kind, and because she's lowest in the pecking order they will just continue to mess with her. Is there anyway to keep her in a structure (like a paneled cage, but where she has access to grassy areas) where the others can still see her and she can do daily activities with them around, but they can't physically touch her. It is a hard issue to deal with, sorry you are having this happen.

 

[demonic]

Awe, poor girl. So we have a few experiences with blind roosters. One was same as yoursn kept getting beat up by the other boys, they would go for his eyes (isn't that crazy). After rescuing him a couple times we finally made the decision to keep him completely separate from any adult birds, they just wouldn't leave him alone. He's so docile, super sweetn he stays in the pen with all the babies and young birds until we transition them (so we call him the grandpa chicken) and he stayed with our meat birds before we processed. One eyelid is scarred so bad it is hardly opens, the other i think his vision is definetly effected. But he gets around, eats and drinks so he's safe and happy where we have him.

The other rooster has a blind eye on one side (cloudy like yours) but he's a salmon favorelle so he's really big (but a scaredy cat). But he stays with our flock no problem. Not sure if his was from a fight or an injury some other way.

We do have a hen that is a bantam OEG mix that has a recessed sinus and eye, but she's never had any issues with flockmates.

Ultimately you either have to keep your girl safe by separating (which is sad because they are social) or rehoming. It doesn't sound like her flockmates are being very kind, and because she's lowest in the pecking order they will just continue to mess with her. Is there anyway to keep her in a structure (like a paneled cage, but where she has access to grassy areas) where the others can still see her and she can do daily activities with them around, but they can't physically touch her. It is a hard issue to deal with, sorry you are having this happen.

We have other small coops that we might be able to put in the run, but they won’t be able to see each other that much. We have a dog kennel that we can put, but we worry it would be too small for her to stay in the whole day, especially since she tends to fall upside down and she has to kick to get herself back up. I feel so bad for her because if anyone walks by the side she is blind in, she becomes super scared and starts running and tripping. Other than that she still eats, but doesn’t want to drink, so all we’ve been doing for that is giving her cucumber and watermelon for some kind of water source. Today she’s been drinking more, which we are grateful to see. Her feathers also appear to be cleaner and shinier today. Please just send us positive vibes so she can make a full and healthy and speedy recovery! Thank you