Putting down your pea?

[thndrdancr]

I was disheartened to find the other hen I got from my friend, which I thought was ib, must be the daughter of the blind cameo hen, as a couple weeks ago I found she had gone blind in 1 eye.
Yesterday I see both eyes are compromised, she was trotting around the garden but I threw treatson both sides of her and she shied away as the other peas ran over to grab them.
This is the one that I had said previously she was stretching her neck all the time like she had indigestion? It occurred to me later that she was walking like the blind hen. My poor blind cameo never leaves the coop unless I take her out and babysit her.
Well breeding season is coming up, and I do NOT want a whole flock of blind peas.
I just can't see how they can have any quality of life. My blind chickens do alright, they run and I think have extremely limited vision perhaps, but they at least have the run of the yard.
I don't mind taking care of them but if I could spay a bird I surely would!
I don't have the heart to do them in myself. . But how do I keep from breeding, perhaps a dog kennel for mom and daughter?

 

[DylansMom]

I was disheartened to find the other hen I got from my friend, which I thought was in, must be the daughter of the blind cameo hen, as a couple weeks ago I found she had gone blind in 1 eye.
Yesterday I see both eyes are compromised, she was trotting around the garden but I threw treatson both sides of her and she shied away as the other peas ran over to grab them.
This is the one that I had said previously she was stretching her neck all the time like she had indigestion? It occurred to me later that she was walking like the blind hen. My poor blind cameo never leaves the coop unless I take her out and babysit her.

Well breeding season is coming up, and I do NOT want a whole flock of blind peas.
I just can't see how they can have any quality of life. My blind chickens do alright, they run and I think have extremely limited vision perhaps, but they at least have the run of the yard.
I don't mind taking care of them but if I could spay a bird I surely would!
I don't have the heart to do them in myself.

. But how do I keep from breeding, perhaps a dog kennel for mom and daughter?

So sorry to hear about your hen, my old Cameo BS has poor vision, but she does still see well enough and it didn't start until she was over 10 years old. Breeding is not the problem, the resulting eggs are the problem. If you can figure out some way to snatch their eggs, you could even replace them with other eggs you do want to hatch. Just a thought. We need a Visually Challenged Pea Sanctuary, I know Blue Creek also has a blind one and I think FBC does as well.

 

[thndrdancr]

That would be great, a blind pea sanctuary! Lol. Yea I know the eggs are the problem. I have heard of folks using blue or red food coloring on their butts of their chickens, I may have to do that. The one recently blind is now 1 3/4 years old. She had vision up to now as she would take treats out of my hand, hop on the deck railing, etc. up til the last two weeks, poor baby. She couldn't see the treats I was holding for her on bright sunny day, onset is super fast!
Poor mom wasn't raised here so won't leave safety of coop. At least she went outside at my friends place as she knew/remembered layout.

 

[thndrdancr]

To add, I absolutely will not let the bloodline be continued or anything, just want some ideas perhaps. Didn't have to worry last year as she never left coop and I made sure not to collect any coop eggs, but my males ignored her anyway. This year I have one hounding her.

 

[DylansMom]

Do your boys spend much time in the coop? Perhaps if the blind girls stay in and the sighted girls are allowed out to fraternize, you wouldn't need to worry, only the "good" eggs would get fertilized. You said your males generally roost outside anyway correct?

 

[thndrdancr]

Yea but I try to coop them when they start laying as the dummies want to nest "outside" the fenced yard. Dog is "inside" the fenced yard. My black shoulder is smart and tries to nest right next to the fence, I think she knows he protects them all. . Drat it, not being able to let him out spring/summer to guard the nests is a pain! Every neighbor but 1 says they wouldn't mind but 1. Thus I have to keep him penned.

I do have a dog kennel but I would have to teach them to go in the doghouse at night. Hmm. Normally I use it to hatch my purebreds. Thinking....

 

[BYC-user-174785]

Yes I do have a blind bronze progressive pied. His only friend that did not abuse him was a cameo split white hen. Unfortunately I noticed that she is going blind in one eye. She is beginning to stay on the ground inside and not go outside anymore. I feel really bad and it is said watching blind peafowl. Fortunately both of them have pen in the same pen and they know the layout. Surprisingly the blind prog pied boy is able to get on the perch. There is neck level platform that he walks into and is able to go on and then walk into the perch and step on it. The cameo hen is not doing that. Both of them are very responsive when I dump food in their feeder. They are able to locate it and scoop food up. The prog pied boy does know to eat snow since he can not find water all of the time, and I personally think blind peafowl should have grass in their pen since if they do not eat their normal food they can always eat grass. Indeed they do walk really odd, and use their neck to gauge where they are going. The prog pied boy was picked on a lot so he crouches down and walks backward when startled. I am not sure how the cameo hen will be since she is not completely blind yet. The bronze prog pied does try staying out of the way of things, and sometimes cannot make it back inside, in those cases I have to help him back. After observing my blind bronze prog pied boy, I think that perhaps if your blind hen heard a mating call of a male then she would run away. If I recall correctly my white peacock when I still had him did try to mount the bronze prog pied. This died freak him out and he ran with a lot of neck movement away. I personally cannot put them down, and had a customer for the bronze boy and the cameo hen for company, but now that the cameo is going blind they are not sure if they want them anymore.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I had a blind peach peahen. Her first season here she came as a 1yr old from Leggs. She was penned with my Cameo trio. Late that summer I noriced she seemed to be walking in circles so I moved my hand in front of her and she didn't flinch. I put an old dog crate in the pen which after I put her inside a few nites she found on her own. That winter she was moved into my building and run that has 100% concrete floors. Manytimes when I would feed and water I would catch her and set her down in front of the feed and water bowls. Soon she recognized when I came in to feed the bunch and always made her way to the bowls and did fine, I kept her inside this same building and run all this past summer because this is where I grow out my coming 1 yr olds. They didn't bother her. But as this winter became increasingly colder she passed. i hate using straw for bedding because once it gets wet,it stays wet and is a bear to scoop-fork up but I layered some straw for her in a corner so she wouldn't be in the cold concrete. She accepted this area well but because she couldn't see she would kinda scoop her beak thru the feed and a few times I don't think she ate. She did very well for 1.5 years and had a somewhat structured life that was somewhat to my convenience but she wouldn't have survived the first winter inside Pea Palace with other adult birds because she could never roost and that floor is dirt.

 

[thndrdancr]

Thanks for sharing, blue creek. Yes they freak if anything jumps on them. I had my cameo hen out in our fenced yard to get some much needed fresh air and sun the day before, and thought she was fairly safe, but when I went out to put her in for the eve, I couldn't find her. I do know she will leap if one of the boys tries to mate with her and apparently one hAd tried. She wasn't fertile at all last year so I didn't have to worry (the boys left her strictly alone, never went in coop). If I have her out tho, it's like they notice her all of a sudden.

I started searching the front and was lucky to find her, just laying on the ground waiting for momma to get her in under some trees at the edge of my property. She won't answer me though, I was lucky to find her. She is good at finding water and food, but the water sometimes she dips her whole head in getting a drink, she listens to chickens and must have amazing judgemental hearing. She never leaves the ground though, unless outside and is pounced on. I am sure she thinks predator. Also if it get dusk she panics and jumps to try to roost if outdoors, so I have to make sure I put her up a good two hours before dusk. WhT we won't do for our critters!

 

[thndrdancr]

ThAnk you for sharing as well, Frenchblackcopper. I guess I should have labeled the thread "unable to put down my peas"! I frankly lay awake all last night, wondering how I could bring myself to it. My ex didn't have a problem, so I used to give him the onerous task but I just can't.