My hen has gone blind

[Chicken_Trainer2007]

Squirrel born October 25, 2024
She always been a spunky daredevil type of girl, she always found the strangest places to lay eggs that she would roll off the edge and hit me with. When she was little she’d dunk her little sisters head in the water dish, she still does that!
But recently shes been staying away from the others, not up beat anymore and shes been quiet, every night since shes been to herself my amazing rooster has been sleeping beside her.
Last night i was just doing the regular check up on everyone checking on the health of everyone and i went and pet squirrel, she tried to peck me but missed by quite a lot, so i kept petting her and she missed every single time. She never misses she usually has great aim. So i shined my headlamp in her eyes, no reaction when i di that to my rooster beside her his pupils contracted so i did another test. I put my finger next to my roosters eye, he pulled away i did the same thing to Squirrels eyes and no reaction if i wanted i could have touched her eyes which of course i didn’t. Her eyes look fuzzy.
Shes not laying eggs anymore but she was laying at the 18th because i did collect her eggs to hatch and yesterday she had 3 beautiful chicks.

How can i accommodate her needs into the flock? Would i need to give her eye drops so her eyes don’t dry out? In the summer would i have to not let her outside?

My rooster would stick to her side so i don’t think it would be a big problem

shes now considered special needs right? What should i do differently for her?

Im not sure if she’s eating or drinking, should I buy a small coop to take care of her in?

I would so bring her inside but I already have 2 roosters and 3 hens in my room, plus she has lived inside for 6 months before!

Please help me i dont want to let go of her, she’s usually quite high on the pecking order. Shes the granddaughter of the last chicken i have from my old flock.

 

[BoundlessLove]

I’m so sorry about Squirrel. This article may help you.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/caring-for-a-blind-chicken.79779/

 

[Debbie292d]

I adopted a blind pullet who after months, got her sight back, but in your case of an older one going blind, I doubt there's much hope of her regaining it, especially since you say her eyes have turned cloudy. This one's never were abnormal.

I'd keep her in a small area so she can't wander off accidentally, so she gets used to where food and water and shelter is. Her food/water dishes need to be in the exact same location consistently. You may have to show her to them many times, but eventually she'll learn how to get to them. You might have to figure a way to secure them so she can't step in them or tip them over accidentally. As long as she eats and drinks fine, she should be okay.

 

[Chicken_Trainer2007]

I adopted a blind pullet who after months, got her sight back, but in your case of an older one going blind, I doubt there's much hope of her regaining it, especially since you say her eyes have turned cloudy. This one's never were abnormal.

I'd keep her in a small area so she can't wander off accidentally, so she gets used to where food and water and shelter is. Her food/water dishes need to be in the exact same location consistently. You may have to show her to them many times, but eventually she'll learn how to get to them. You might have to figure a way to secure them so she can't step in them or tip them over accidentally. As long as she eats and drinks fine, she should be okay.

i already do this! even after cleaning the coops i put everything back right where they were before,
I think the thing im most scared of is keeping her cooped up, she loves exploring and itll be so sad taking that away from her in the summer time. Luckily im outside with my birds 90% of the time so i can always let her out when im outside…
When i got one of my roosters he would wonder into others yards looking for me so i put a air tag on harness and put it on him, maybe that could be what i do in the summer so she still has her freedom.

 

[Debbie292d]

i already do this! even after cleaning the coops i put everything back right where they were before,
I think the thing im most scared of is keeping her cooped up, she loves exploring and itll be so sad taking that away from her in the summer time. Luckily im outside with my birds 90% of the time so i can always let her out when im outside…
When i got one of my roosters he would wonder into others yards looking for me so i put a air tag on harness and put it on him, maybe that could be what i do in the summer so she still has her freedom.

It's a different situation than mine. Mine grew to adapt to going outside; yours already has. Since you're outside with them so much, it should work great!

 

[Chicken_Trainer2007]

It's a different situation than mine. Mine grew to adapt to going outside; yours already has. Since you're outside with them so much, it should work great!

She also has her two sisters, mom, grandma, and her friends to guide her and 8 lovely roosters to protect her.

Once the spring comes ill build a run for my small coop i built 3 years ago so when im not around she will still get all the nature she loves

Edit: thank you all for helping me boost my confidence about Squirrel new needs, im still so stressed about this but im glad i have a plan set so she can still be a part of my family

 

[OneMountainAcres]

It sounds like you have a good plan for her but I thought I would drop in and give my experience. I had a blind hen named Hershey (BCM). She was born blind and I only learned that when I realized that one chick in the brooder just wasn't doing good, not eating/ drinking. Once I managed to teach her where the food and water was, she just took off and grew up completely normal. She adapted to each new brooder as she grew and her coop when she moved outside. She lived with my turkey flock which did not get to free range at the time because they would wander too far. Now since she was born blind, I only let her outside with me and she would stick right against me (she had to be touching me in one way or another but she loved it). One day, a hole got ripped in the fence to her run and since she would use the fence to lean against to find her way back to the coop, she managed to slip out of that hole and wandered off into the woods. Since she had no experience free ranging, she didn't know what to do or where anything was and we never saw her again. I didn't tell you that story to scare you, Your girl has had years of experience. She knows where everything is, she has friends who will support her, help her and guide her. I think she's going to be just fine Putting a tracker on her is super smart and I wish we had done that too. Hershey was a stranger to my chicken flock so they probably either ignored her or chased her off. We also had a young roo, born visually impaired. I don't think he was completely blind but he was very close. He was broody raised, very adapting and smart. He had no trouble living with the flock and free ranging with them though he never wandered far from the coop. The ladies loved him and he was a perfect gentleman. We just found a new home for him yesterday with a few other special needs chickens. He was so sweet, I would have kept him until he died of old age but my three young breeder roos grew up and learned that he wasn't good at defending himself against them so they all turned against him. He'll have a much happier and stable life now.

 

[Chicken_Trainer2007]

It sounds like you have a good plan for her but I thought I would drop in and give my experience. I had a blind hen named Hershey (BCM). She was born blind and I only learned that when I realized that one chick in the brooder just wasn't doing good, not eating/ drinking. Once I managed to teach her where the food and water was, she just took off and grew up completely normal. She adapted to each new brooder as she grew and her coop when she moved outside. She lived with my turkey flock which did not get to free range at the time because they would wander too far. Now since she was born blind, I only let her outside with me and she would stick right against me (she had to be touching me in one way or another but she loved it). One day, a hole got ripped in the fence to her run and since she would use the fence to lean against to find her way back to the coop, she managed to slip out of that hole and wandered off into the woods. Since she had no experience free ranging, she didn't know what to do or where anything was and we never saw her again. I didn't tell you that story to scare you, Your girl has had years of experience. She knows where everything is, she has friends who will support her, help her and guide her. I think she's going to be just fine Putting a tracker on her is super smart and I wish we had done that too. Hershey was a stranger to my chicken flock so they probably either ignored her or chased her off. We also had a young roo, born visually impaired. I don't think he was completely blind but he was very close. He was broody raised, very adapting and smart. He had no trouble living with the flock and free ranging with them though he never wandered far from the coop. The ladies loved him and he was a perfect gentleman. We just found a new home for him yesterday with a few other special needs chickens. He was so sweet, I would have kept him until he died of old age but my three young breeder roos grew up and learned that he wasn't good at defending himself against them so they all turned against him. He'll have a much happier and stable life now.

The stall the chickens were in got flooded so i cleaned out where my rescues normally go in and set it up and everything, Squirrel actually adjusted well since that was the first area she was moved to after being inside for her first 6 months of life(born in October) she did explore the walls and i made sure to leave the walls to her. She found the perches then my amazing boss rooster Comet was calling her to the food this morning, squirrel had a rooster on each side of her it was so cute. I was scared for her but she used the bottom bar of the perch, ate and drank. Since i picked her up to move her to the stall while the other chickens knew where to go (other then my 1 brain celled silkies) she actually felt so go she wasn’t as slender as when i first made this thread. She has been running around or well trying but sometimes she does bump into things. She’s doing good, she’s protective of herself when i pet her so thats good, i will set up my dogs old harness ive used it on my special needs rooster when he was put outside for the first time.
Heres some pictures from yesterday of my new set up, and the perch squirrel found