I think I may have a blind chicken

[Crickett]

One of my silkies seems to be blind. She doesn't eat unless I put her beak to the feed. Then she will eat like crazy, until she loses it. Her eyes look the same as the other chicken's eyes, not clouded or anything, and her feathers aren't impeding her vision any, I don't think. Is it possible that she is blind? And if she is, should I cull her? I really don't have the time to hand feed her everyday. I have the other chickens to attend to, as well as the turkeys, ducks, geese, pigs, and bees. Not to mention my DH, the house, the dog, the cat, and the garden. Oh, and I have a full time job elsewhere also. Perhaps someone in the Alabama area would like her?

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

well stating all your responsibility's then it is really up to you to cull the chicken

I would put het in a cage that she can learn where the feed and water is
she will then know that there is feed and water
something like a rabbit hutch
you mentioned feathers, is she a polish with feathers over her eyes or a silkie with feathers over her eyes?

if so take a rubber band and group the feathers together and put the rubber band around them
this will allow her to see good

then you will have alayer and she will do fine

so you have to decide what is best for you and the hen

any questions e,ail me

 

[Crickett]

She is a silkie. I'll try and put her feathers up, like in a pony tail? Maybe that will help. Someone else suggested that maybe she needs to be wormed, so I'm going to try that as well. Hopefully that will fix things. I really don't want to cull her if I don't have to, she's a beautiful bird.

 

[threehorses]

Definitely try putting her feathers up. If you're not going to show her, just trim them. I had a friend who had similar problems and just trimming them back helped tremendously.

If you worm, worm first with Wazine 17 (piperazine 17%) and THEN in 2-4 weeks go back with something like wormazole (Smith poultry, Randall Burkey etc - it's Fenbendazole), pour-on (cattle) ivermectin (generic is fine and way less expensive), etc.

If you need directions with these of an explaination of my reasoning, please respond to *this* post as we'll be subscribed waiting for updates and offering our help.

 

[Crickett]

Doing the wazine first as you suggested, by why do you say to do the second dose with the other stuff? Won't the wazine "fix" it if she needs worming?

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Here's my reasoning.

First, I always use Wazine at least for the first worming if the bird meets *any* of the following qualifications.
- Bird is younger than 4 months old (then I use wazine only, repeating it, unless a vet or expert advises otherwise
- The bird has gone more than 6 months without a worming
- The bird has an unknown worming history
- The bird is shedding worms
- The bird is underweight and has diarrhea

The reason is that Wazine (piperazine) paralyzes and expells only adult worms and few species (including the most important, roundworms). It does not kill larva. But this is good. Because if I'm worming any of the above birds, they could have a heavy parasite load without me knowing. Watching their droppings is a poor indication of parasite load as worms rarely leave the body or they'd die. Instead their manner of spread is by shedding worms. (Having a 'fecal egg count' done, not just a fecal exam, is the way to tell parasite load.)

So all birds in my list can be assumed to have a heavy parasite load. If I were to worm with the stronger more broad-spectrum wormers, I would kill and paralyze all worms. If they have a lot of round worms, poultry can sometimes go into shock as the now dead worms are recognized as "foreign protein" (like organ rejection), and sometimes lots of worms can clog a bird as they exit.

Rather than take that chance, I use the Wazine first. It will remove enough of the most prevalent worms to immediately help the bird. You could techically use it as your only wormer if you repeated and repeated. But I don't like for the little larva to stay in my birds and eventually go to the adult stage, reinfecting my flock.

So instead of repeating with Wazine, as it is designed, I use the broad spectrum wormer as the follow-up. THAT way I don't have to worry about stressing the bird, but I finally kill (not just paralyze) the remaining worms and also their larva so that they never get the chance to become adults.

Then I use the broad spectrum wormer twice annually.

I use more natural methods of worm control inbetween in hopes that I will have less worms to deal with. These products are NOT wormers, they do NOT expell worms. They are said to help repel worms to some degree but will not replace a worming program.

DE (food grade only - in the feed at less than 2% total feed weight; also used in dust-bathing areas lightly).
Cayenne - sprinkled on food daily
VermX - a self-purported worm repellent; must be used 3 consecutive days each month.
Dry environment: worms and their eggs cannot survive as well in a dry environment. So I prefer sand over soil in runs, compressed/dried pine horse-stall shavings in the coop over hay.

Basically, I use wazine to get the job done but instead of repeating as required with more wazine over and over, I use a broad spectrum wormer second to stop the cycle for a while. I don't use the broad spectrum wormer first so that I can avoid clogging and shock.

 

[SeramaLife]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2214746#p2214746
My blind hen

 

[Crickett]

My chicken just died. I didn't cull her, but I'm wondering if maybe she wasn't able to find her food and water when I wasn't around to make sure she got some. Maybe the other chickens weren't nice to her and didn't let het get to the water. I always made sure she did when I was out there, but I have been away from home a lot the past two days. Anyway, I thought I'd let you all know. Thank you for all the advice by the way. I do appreciate it.

 

[threehorses]

I'm very sorry to hear about your bird.

You might want to look up your state's extension agents and ag colleges and get info ahead of time on what to do if you need a necropsy done. If you lose more, I'd definitely recommend one. Some places require the sick bird brought in alive, others require it be deceased and can tell you how to properly store it til you can bring it in. It helps to have that info ahead of time, if for no other reason, in hopes that you'll never ever need it. but if you do, I know I'd be too distracted and upset to want to have to look up the information in a hurry.

/hugs

 

[Crickett]

Thanks. I didn't think of that. I'll contact the county extension office monday.