My two blind hens!

[DaniLovesChickens]

That is Helen on top and Buffy on bottom. I have no idea why they sleep like this
or whether Helen gets on our fluffy Buffy or if Buffy pushes her way under Helen.

 

[ChickLover98]

Awww. My friend has a blind chicken, too! She says its the sweetest little thing!

 

[newlyweds]

How cute, I have 2 blind hens also, and they cuddle sometimes on the floor also, I haven't thought to put something for them to crawl in, but maybe I should.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Can I ask, "how does a blind hen find food?" I've seen blind dogs before, but birds would seem to have special challenges. How did your birds become blind? I'm very curious. Thanks.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I have a blind Lakenvelder hen. Her eyes are clear and bright, so we aren't sure if she's completely 100% blind, but what we do know is that she can't see the feed if you sprinkle it in the grass, and she can't find her way to the food dish, so the only way she gets to eat is when one of us calls her and taps the place where we put the food so that she can follow the tapping. She gets very excited when she hears my older DD's voice because she knows she will bring her into the house to eat. She is so very low on the pecking order, and none of the other birds will help her, it's sad. We're working on getting her weight back up right now. It took us awhile to realize that her vision was failing, and by the time we realized it, she was very thin. She was always right there in the middle of the other birds, so we didn't realize that she wasn't eating. She is the most docile thing in the world, but if she thinks you have food, she starts packing at mid air. She got me in the head the other day. Ouch! We've learned to not tap anything when she's around, lol! Do your girls get around ok? Where do they fit in within the flock? I'm just kind of wondering what my dear girl Eliza might have in her future. I won't be moving her into the standards pen. Instead, she'll either stay with the bantams, or stay inside. Still have to see how she acts for awhile. She's close to the POL, should start any day actually, so I want to see if she can function out in the coop. Your girls are cute though, you should post more pictures of them.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
That is a heart-breaking story.

 

[pgpoultry]

Lovely to see the blind hens!

Seems to me that blind animals or birds cope very well once you realise they are blind and place food, water, and coop in a constant spot for them always to know where their needs are.

I have a blind lamb (well he's nearly a ram now), deserted by his mother very early as he could not keep up with his brother or mother. He was bottle fed and now lives in a small orchard with food and water always in the same place. He is doing fine,

Sandie

 

[Mahonri]

I have a hen named "One eyed Sally". She's easy to catch from one side.

 

[usschicago1]

They Look So Precious

 

[DaniLovesChickens]

Helen was blind first. I have no idea how she ended up blind. She was about 3 - 4 years old. She did just fine. She could still see shadows. She actually still went out to free range as long as it wasn't windy so she could hear. We didn't have to keep her in when it was windy, she just stayed in. She's a very smart girl. She even managed to escape a stray dog.

Buffy went blind later. She is completely blind. Our one silver-laced Wyandotte started attacking Buffy. It was horrible!!! Buffy would scream. Wynona was about half a day away from being sold to someone else for their dinner. We moved Buffy into a smaller coop area we had where she would be safe. Buffy still lays about 5 eggs a week! Not bad for a blind 3 - 4 year old BO.

Helen doesn't lay any eggs at all but we just love her. Then we added Old Red in there. She had an infection in one eye and lost sight in it. We had bought some pullets last winter. Only 5 of them. They didn't have a nice affect on the flock balance though. So Red had to move for her safety.

Now, we obviously have to find a new hatchery because 2 of the EE chicks we got this year are blind (one in one eye).

We have there food and water stationary and the 5 of them don't fight with eachother over the food.

Even if they seem blind, you might want to try a few different bright colors because they might be able to see something. Then you can paint stuff to help them. When Helen was still with the rest of the chickens, we added on to the coop. So to make sure she could find her way back in, we painted the doorways pumpkin orange!!