Precious..the blind Barred Rock hen

[vantain]

Lots of vaseline!

I did that the first year I had chickens, and they all lost their comb points anyway. Not much you can do at -20 to -30F around here.

 

[vantain]

It is indeed possible. A rare blessing to have a savvy cockerel.
Time will tell.


Eh, oft repeated, not necessarily effective.
It would have to be applied daily, and can gather all kinds of 'dirt'.
IMO, it's best to leave hands off frostbite, before and especially after.

I didn’t use Vaseline at all last winter, and no one got frostbite. Not sure what was different, though they didn’t have pointy combs anymore after that first winter.

 

[vantain]

Update on Precious....

I've been away for a week, but at least three of my 21 week old hens are laying. I put a camera in to watch the nests this week, because I am curious if Precious is one of the layers. Today I see her repeatedly going into the nest boxes, but she seems to rush right out of them, maybe unsure of what she needs to do. There are other eggs in there, so I am also wondering how she will do with her sight issues. Will she just stomp on the eggs and break them all, or is she able to be gentle with them. In any case, I'm monitoring, and hoping to see her lay an egg. To me, this will be an occasion to celebrate. She has gone through so much with her blindness, but has also overcome it all in one way or another.

And as I'm watching, our cockerel just entered one of the nests...clucked a bit...stepped out..and now Precious has entered that nest. Maybe........

 

[vantain]

Amazing...the cockerel is definitely trying to encourage her to use one particular nest box. He's in there arranging it for her, and she's standing outside of it again showing a ton of interest. I may have to try capturing some video.

 

[jsr5]

Adds to the argument about them being 'dumb animals' if that is what happens and also adds to the vocabulary they must have.

 

[aart]

Sounds pretty good!

 

[vantain]

The way she is thrashing around in those boxes makes me think she is just breaking every egg in there. I'll be amazed if anything is intact.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I have one particular Barred Rock hen named Precious. She is, we think, mostly blind. We got her from TSC with 3 other Rocks, one of which we named Paris, but is probably Perry. Everything was going well, but after a few days, I started noticing something was not right with Precious. She wasn't quite as active as the others, and often was found standing in a corner, staring at a wall. I also noticed that she walked very slowly, and would often walk into things. Through more observation, and some vision testing, it became obvious that she, at the very least, sees very poorly. We have observed her eating and drinking from the feeder and waterer, so she does not require any personal attention to help her eat. In fact, she is gaining weight just as quickly as the others in our new brooder. Her brooder mates consist of three other Barred Rocks, two RIR, and two Buff Orpingtons.

Precious is now 19 days old, and continues to grow. She is getting along with everyone, but doesn't always participate in all of their crazy antics in the brooder. The others are extremely active, flying everywhere, chasing each other, scratching through the bedding..etc. Precious can often be found near them, trying to be part of the activities, but often failing because she just can't see what they are doing. She does scratch in the bedding, she does manage to get into the little pan I setup for them with dirt for dust bathing, and I have seen her dust bathe in there herself.

I'm sharing this story, because I want to document her life. As a family, we decided against culling her, just because of her vision issues. She is precious in more than just a name. She deserves a chance at a good life, and that is something we want to give her.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, as we take this journey in caring for a special needs chicken. But, we are excited for her, as she is managing to do things.

Here she is as of a week ago. I will get an update picture in the next day or so.
View attachment 2134645

I love that name she is precious

 

[vantain]

I love that name ❤ she is precious

I named her Precious..before I even knew she couldn't see....so yeah...it fits and made it even more special.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I named her Precious..before I even knew she couldn't see....so yeah...it fits and made it even more special.

Yes. I agree, I will add that she may not have a good life living with the abled flock. Maybe get her a blind friend Not always a possibility but it would be good to see a pair like that. I have heard of a blind chicken living with a dear chicken as well