Precious..the blind Barred Rock hen

She doesnt look blind.
She gotten so pretty though! :love My sweet half blind boy sadly passed on. :(
Wow…it’s been awhile since I last posted about Precious! She’s still doing great. She is currently going through her 18 month molt. She’s a hot mess, and has been sleeping in a nesting box for the past week, instead of roosting with the others. Seems that she prefers the cozy confines of the box, and no one bothers her while she is in there. She’s clearly uncomfortabl, but she’s well on her way to having a fully refreshed winter coat.

She still responds to me calling her name, which is always cute. She still wanders around pecking at the air, and accidentally pecking the other hens at the feeder. She‘s still not the bottom hen, which I believe is due to her blindly staring down higher pecking order hens, just because she can’t see them. They seem to allow it, as though they understand.

Here she is in her molting glory! I’ll post again when she is done with molt, and showing her beautiful new coat.
 
Wow…it’s been awhile since I last posted about Precious! She’s still doing great. She is currently going through her 18 month molt. She’s a hot mess, and has been sleeping in a nesting box for the past week, instead of roosting with the others. Seems that she prefers the cozy confines of the box, and no one bothers her while she is in there. She’s clearly uncomfortabl, but she’s well on her way to having a fully refreshed winter coat.

She still responds to me calling her name, which is always cute. She still wanders around pecking at the air, and accidentally pecking the other hens at the feeder. She‘s still not the bottom hen, which I believe is due to her blindly staring down higher pecking order hens, just because she can’t see them. They seem to allow it, as though they understand.

Here she is in her molting glory! I’ll post again when she is done with molt, and showing her beautiful new coat.
It is so good to hear that she is still doing well. Thanks for letting us know. :love
 
Thought I would add an update about Precious, with something I find very interesting. Precious is somehow, NOT the lowest hen in the pecking order. Out of seven hens, I believe she is second or third from the bottom.

What is interesting, is that my top hen, Gwyneth, will not let any hen peck out of the same feeder as her, at the same time, EXCEPT for Precious. If Precious is eating, she allows that. I also tested this theory by hand feeding Gwyneth. Any other hen was scolded immediately by Gwyneth, if they tried to eat out of my hand, but she allowed Precious to do so without even a glance.

If you read some of my past posts, Gwyneth was a tyrant when I was integrating many of these hens. She was quite ruthless, but has mellowed over time. Her treatment of Precious now is just sweet.
 
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This is great to read! I just found this thread. I had a blind chicken too but I lost her a couple months ago. She started molting after I made some flock adjustments and she didn't do well after that. I think if I ever have another blind hen I will keep everything the same for her. My Weezy could see a little but once I got rid of Florence (who was white and so maybe Weezy could see her better) because she was picking on Weezy shebjustbwent downhill. She wasn't getting picked on anymore but I think the stress of the change was too much. Then we had a bought of coccidiosis and I didn't realize it in time to save her. Lesson learned about blind chicken keeping!
 
Precious continues to amaze me with her gentle spirit. Today, we lost our beautiful and sweet Buff Orpington, Gertrude. Gertrude was the bottom of the pecking order, which was sad, because she was such a sweet hen. This was a rather sudden death. Gertrude had been fine one minute, then went into some kind of distress.

I reviewed the camera footage this evening, to try and piece together exactly what happened to Gertrude. She had crawled into a corner of the run, and lay there panting, flat on the ground. The whole thing is sad. The other hens all knew something was wrong, and were making quite a racket with all their squawking. The main one crying out was Precious. One of my Barred Rock, Kiev, always picked on Gertrude. And even while Gertrude was down, she appeared to continue trying to harass her. She started pecking Gertrude. It’s what happened next that brought a tear to my eye. Precious was standing nearby, still squawking, when she somehow seemed to know that Kiev was attacking Gertrude. She immediately dove at Kiev and gave her a complete beat down, driving her away. She then sat down on the ground about a foot away. Kiev wasn’t done trying to harass Gertrude though, and tried again to peck at her. And again, Precious attacked Kiev and drove her away. This went on a few times, until Kiev finally got the message. In each event, Precious stood tall, and had her tail fanned out as tall as it would go.

I’m proud of Precious, for standing up for Gertrude when she was suffering.

Precious may not be the top of the pecking order, but she sure is TOPS in my opinion, for her sweet spirit. She’s feisty when she needs to be, and gentle as well. Just don’t have your head anywhere she is pecking, or you will get your head pecked! All the hens know to steer clear when Precious comes around to peck at something they are. She’s just wild in her targeting, or lack thereof.

I got a screen grab of the event, which I’ve included here. You can see her on the left, standing guard over her friend.

RIP Gertrude! You will be missed.
5909F690-FAE0-42CF-89EB-1B12071D54F3.jpeg
 
Precious continues to amaze me with her gentle spirit. Today, we lost our beautiful and sweet Buff Orpington, Gertrude. Gertrude was the bottom of the pecking order, which was sad, because she was such a sweet hen. This was a rather sudden death. Gertrude had been fine one minute, then went into some kind of distress.

I reviewed the camera footage this evening, to try and piece together exactly what happened to Gertrude. She had crawled into a corner of the run, and lay there panting, flat on the ground. The whole thing is sad. The other hens all knew something was wrong, and were making quite a racket with all their squawking. The main one crying out was Precious. One of my Barred Rock, Kiev, always picked on Gertrude. And even while Gertrude was down, she appeared to continue trying to harass her. She started pecking Gertrude. It’s what happened next that brought a tear to my eye. Precious was standing nearby, still squawking, when she somehow seemed to know that Kiev was attacking Gertrude. She immediately dove at Kiev and gave her a complete beat down, driving her away. She then sat down on the ground about a foot away. Kiev wasn’t done trying to harass Gertrude though, and tried again to peck at her. And again, Precious attacked Kiev and drove her away. This went on a few times, until Kiev finally got the message. In each event, Precious stood tall, and had her tail fanned out as tall as it would go.

I’m proud of Precious, for standing up for Gertrude when she was suffering.

Precious may not be the top of the pecking order, but she sure is TOPS in my opinion, for her sweet spirit. She’s feisty when she needs to be, and gentle as well. Just don’t have your head anywhere she is pecking, or you will get your head pecked! All the hens know to steer clear when Precious comes around to peck at something they are. She’s just wild in her targeting, or lack thereof.

I got a screen grab of the event, which I’ve included here. You can see her on the left, standing guard over her friend.

RIP Gertrude! You will be missed.
View attachment 3090140
I'm so sorry for your loss! :hugs But at least Gertrude had a friend to sit by her side.
 
I’m proud of Precious, for standing up for Gertrude when she was suffering.
She is SO aptly named I love hearing the updates even in this sadness there is some heartwarming to be had. So sorry for loss of Gertrude I too have been losing several of my oldest (8yrs?) hens. And some of my first home brood hens. A few tears and heartfelt regret and loss here too
 
Precious continues to amaze me with her gentle spirit. Today, we lost our beautiful and sweet Buff Orpington, Gertrude. Gertrude was the bottom of the pecking order, which was sad, because she was such a sweet hen. This was a rather sudden death. Gertrude had been fine one minute, then went into some kind of distress.

I reviewed the camera footage this evening, to try and piece together exactly what happened to Gertrude. She had crawled into a corner of the run, and lay there panting, flat on the ground. The whole thing is sad. The other hens all knew something was wrong, and were making quite a racket with all their squawking. The main one crying out was Precious. One of my Barred Rock, Kiev, always picked on Gertrude. And even while Gertrude was down, she appeared to continue trying to harass her. She started pecking Gertrude. It’s what happened next that brought a tear to my eye. Precious was standing nearby, still squawking, when she somehow seemed to know that Kiev was attacking Gertrude. She immediately dove at Kiev and gave her a complete beat down, driving her away. She then sat down on the ground about a foot away. Kiev wasn’t done trying to harass Gertrude though, and tried again to peck at her. And again, Precious attacked Kiev and drove her away. This went on a few times, until Kiev finally got the message. In each event, Precious stood tall, and had her tail fanned out as tall as it would go.

I’m proud of Precious, for standing up for Gertrude when she was suffering.

Precious may not be the top of the pecking order, but she sure is TOPS in my opinion, for her sweet spirit. She’s feisty when she needs to be, and gentle as well. Just don’t have your head anywhere she is pecking, or you will get your head pecked! All the hens know to steer clear when Precious comes around to peck at something they are. She’s just wild in her targeting, or lack thereof.

I got a screen grab of the event, which I’ve included here. You can see her on the left, standing guard over her friend.

RIP Gertrude! You will be missed.
View attachment 3090140
They truly care for each other. I have seen similar displays as a hen is failing. Bless you Precious for being a true friend.

I am terribly sorry for your loss but it was nice to hear that Precious is still going strong. :hugs :hugs
 

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