Precious..the blind Barred Rock hen

[vantain]

I moved the others down to be with Precious on the lower roost. She’s on the far end of this row of chicks, hidden from view. There are two RIRs, two Buff Orpington, and four Barred Rocks on that roost.

 

[vantain]

More fun in the new run today for Precious and her crew. She gets along pretty well in the run, and seems to stay with the others well enough. I have an opening in the chicken wire between their run and the older hens run. I am leery of letting her pass through that portal into the big girls run. When the others do it, they do get pecked and sometimes chased back through the opening. I am afraid that Precious won’t see enough to know a peck is coming, and/or being able to get away to the other side. Something I need to work on between her and the two older girls I guess.

Anyway, she loves being in the new run. She spent a lot of time exploring, tail up and happy.

Here are some photos of her...

 

[vantain]

In this picture, she’s the one on the left.

 

[vantain]

I went to check that they bedded down for the night. Remember how I mentioned that the other seven abandon Precious to be up on the poop board? Well, this is how I found them....seven up on the poop board, and Precious...somehow...up on top of the feeder! My guess is that she attempted to get up where the others are, but missed? Too funny to see where she ended up. But, this is also promising, as I believe she is going to manage to figure this one out too. She’s a fighter for sure.

 

[thekeetlady]

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.
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Awww this is so wholesome and amazing!

 

[jsr5]

Glad to hear another story of giving a struggling creature a chance. I have a blind Roo (Micro Roo) Once they started in on the pecking order thing and chasing him to pick on him he became very agoraphobic He has a 2.5 by 8 brooder to himself now He did have a room mate for a while but she finally got better and was begging to be out. He likes to hear all the other chickens the Brooder is in the coop. As long as I don't reorganize his space he does well has roost its a couple 2x4's in a open square he keeps 99 percent of his poops right in the middle. I put his food in a iron skillet to prevent spillage and switched him to all flock pellets instead of crumbles so when he got a bite it would be substantial. Wish we were close one of us to could adopt the other as a room mate.

 

[vantain]

Yesterday I picked up some live meal worms. I intended to treat Precious to a wonderful snack. However, she can’t see it, and no matter how hard I tried, I just could not get her eat the meal worm. I’m bummed. The others all went crazy for them, but Precious just doesn’t get it.

 

[vantain]

Tonight I checked on them after dark. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the other chicks are all roosting up on the big girl poop board ledge. Precious was lost trying to figure out where they went, and somehow settled in top of the feeder. I was nice and placed her up on the ledge with the others for the past two nights. I was a bit concerned with how she would get down. But for the past two mornings, she has somehow managed to do it.

Tonight I checked on them, using my coop camera. What I found is 8 chicks up on the roost! Once again, Precious figures something out. Here’s a picture of what I found. She’s the one on the upper left, actually on the roost bar. Go Precious!

 

[BY Bob]

Tonight I checked on them after dark. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the other chicks are all roosting up on the big girl poop board ledge. Precious was lost trying to figure out where they went, and somehow settled in top of the feeder. I was nice and placed her up on the ledge with the others for the past two nights. I was a bit concerned with how she would get down. But for the past two mornings, she has somehow managed to do it.

Tonight I checked on them, using my coop camera. What I found is 8 chicks up on the roost! Once again, Precious figures something out. Here’s a picture of what I found. She’s the one on the upper left, actually on the roost bar. Go Precious!

Look at her figuring things out. What a wonderful young lady! It's amazing how well they adapt.

 

[jsr5]

she sounds as if she is doing much better than Micro Roo. Part of that was my fault not realizing what was going on sooner. You are doing great by Precious, hopefully she will be far better adjusted than my Roo.