Meet Helen.
She was born with what seems to be cataracts. At first I had to feed her to keep her alive, then she started feeding herself, then finding the food on her own. She now, at 5 weeks, seems to see a little bit, at least she senses light and dark, and when something big is in front of her. I love watching her discover stuff, she'll do progressively closer and closer pecks, until she finds what she is looking for. I've moved the food and water around, and she finds it again. She is currently in an outside run (4'x8') with chicks her own age and younger, and she's doing great.
I've even been letting the chicks out to free range in the evenings when I'm around. She is able to follow the other chicks around, although since she can't see the bugs, she doesn't get a lot out of it. She does love to scratch in the dirt. I've had to rescue her once, after she'd wandered off and couldn't find her way back. But I really want her to sort out her own problems, so I'm trying to leave her be as much as possible. The only major hurdle to go are the older chickens, they've been chasing off the younger chicks when they are around, but poor Helen can't see them, so she gets a good peck every once in a while. Its all supervised, but I'm trying to let them figure it out. Helen is starting to figure out when the big chickens are close, because the last few times she's made a mad dash back to the coop when the big girls come near.
Here she is. I think she is an EE mix, I just really hope she lays green eggs eventually (although who knows where I'll find them). You can see her cataracts and her eyes always look a little sunken in to me.
Here she is next to her sibling. She was very stunted, due to not knowing how to eat for the first week.
Helen at 1 week old. You can see her cataracts/cloudiness in her eye really clearly.
Helen, today, at 5 weeks. If you look carefully, you can see her cataracts. And she does have a normal tail, well it's scruffy, but she holds it down most of the time.
She was born with what seems to be cataracts. At first I had to feed her to keep her alive, then she started feeding herself, then finding the food on her own. She now, at 5 weeks, seems to see a little bit, at least she senses light and dark, and when something big is in front of her. I love watching her discover stuff, she'll do progressively closer and closer pecks, until she finds what she is looking for. I've moved the food and water around, and she finds it again. She is currently in an outside run (4'x8') with chicks her own age and younger, and she's doing great.
I've even been letting the chicks out to free range in the evenings when I'm around. She is able to follow the other chicks around, although since she can't see the bugs, she doesn't get a lot out of it. She does love to scratch in the dirt. I've had to rescue her once, after she'd wandered off and couldn't find her way back. But I really want her to sort out her own problems, so I'm trying to leave her be as much as possible. The only major hurdle to go are the older chickens, they've been chasing off the younger chicks when they are around, but poor Helen can't see them, so she gets a good peck every once in a while. Its all supervised, but I'm trying to let them figure it out. Helen is starting to figure out when the big chickens are close, because the last few times she's made a mad dash back to the coop when the big girls come near.
Here she is. I think she is an EE mix, I just really hope she lays green eggs eventually (although who knows where I'll find them). You can see her cataracts and her eyes always look a little sunken in to me.
Here she is next to her sibling. She was very stunted, due to not knowing how to eat for the first week.
Helen at 1 week old. You can see her cataracts/cloudiness in her eye really clearly.
Helen, today, at 5 weeks. If you look carefully, you can see her cataracts. And she does have a normal tail, well it's scruffy, but she holds it down most of the time.
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