Raising a blind chick

[linsybird]

My broody hen hatched some chicks yesterday morning. One of the other hens tried to “steal” the babies by pecking them to try and get them under herinstead of the mom. I put the offending hen in solitary until she calmed down (she’s now back to ignoring the chicks), but one of the babies was injured.

I wouldn’t consider it an emergency, the chick is stable, but blind.

I’m hopeful that once his wounds heal, he’ll regain sight in one of his eyes, but for now he can’t see anything.

Ive been giving him water by hand, but he hasn’t quite got the hang of eating food. Right now he’s in a small box with a bantam chick for company.

I was hoping someone on here could give me some tips or tricks to help him. I seriously considered culling him. Other than the blindness, he seems fine, so I’m hesitant to cull
him.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Maybe the other chicks or Mama will help him look for food, don't give up on him! If you notice they aren't helping him or he isn't gaining weight, you will have to get another person to help you

 

[Mamatomany123]

I have a blind hen. She gets by ok. We keep the food and water in the same spot and her sisters actually help her a lot. When they free range one of the other girls always stays with her and if for some reason she gets separated she will make a call sound and theyll get her. It took a little bit of training making sure she figured out the layout of the run, where the coop was, and where the food/water is but shes now a year old ( just turned a year last month) and gets by without assistance.from me

 

[sayga]

My broody hen hatched some chicks yesterday morning. One of the other hens tried to “steal” the babies by pecking them to try and get them under herinstead of the mom. I put the offending hen in solitary until she calmed down (she’s now back to ignoring the chicks), but one of the babies was injured.

I wouldn’t consider it an emergency, the chick is stable, but blind.

I’m hopeful that once his wounds heal, he’ll regain sight in one of his eyes, but for now he can’t see anything.

Ive been giving him water by hand, but he hasn’t quite got the hang of eating food. Right now he’s in a small box with a bantam chick for company.

I was hoping someone on here could give me some tips or tricks to help him. I seriously considered culling him. Other than the blindness, he seems fine, so I’m hesitant to cull
him.

I hatched a blind chick on Thursday or Friday. I also separated mine with a bantam chick for company! Mine has cataracts in both eyes. is yours lacking vision in both eyes? If it has one eye, it will figure out how to peck for itself but if it’s totally blind, you’ll have to help it and teach it. (Or cull it. I decided against that course of action).

I have been syringe feeding it raw egg yolk mixed with wet chick feed, and it’s learning to eat that way. Soon I’ll teach it to find the bowl and peck for itself but for now, it just doesn’t get it so I hold it and put the syringe beside the beak and let the liquid dribble into its mouth. When it goes to swallow (like chicks do when they’re drinking) I add a bit more into it’s open mouth. Then I wait so it can breathe. Then I do it again. It takes about ten minutes to fill the crop and is a bit messy, but the chick is eating.

 

[linsybird]

After syringe feeding and treating the wounds for a few days, both eyes are at least a little open! I know it has vision in at least one of the eyes, because he started pecking at the syringe today.

 

[WylieCoyote]

My broody hen hatched some chicks yesterday morning. One of the other hens tried to “steal” the babies by pecking them to try and get them under herinstead of the mom. I put the offending hen in solitary until she calmed down (she’s now back to ignoring the chicks), but one of the babies was injured.

I wouldn’t consider it an emergency, the chick is stable, but blind.

I’m hopeful that once his wounds heal, he’ll regain sight in one of his eyes, but for now he can’t see anything.

Ive been giving him water by hand, but he hasn’t quite got the hang of eating food. Right now he’s in a small box with a bantam chick for company.

I was hoping someone on here could give me some tips or tricks to help him. I seriously considered culling him. Other than the blindness, he seems fine, so I’m hesitant to cull
him.

I have a chick as well that blind in one eye, due to a lesion growth that covered it. The lesion is gone now, but it never got it sight back. But during the meantime, it learned from the other chicks when they were eating hearing the pecking noise and also learned where the water was at to. It doing ok now and able to free range with it small group. They all pretty much stick together. If it can see out of one eye, it should eventually adapt to it and learn. Good luck with it.