Sight problem and constant sleeping

[FluffyBetty]

Hi, one of my chickens, a black Australorp, was sick at about 2 months old. We gave her some antibiotics which perked her up, and hasn't had any health issues since. She's about 11 months now, and a week and a half ago, we occasionally saw her nodding off during the day. We've put antibiotics and dewormer in the water and that's helped a little bit, but she's still sick. She's sluggish (sleeping most of the day and moving much slower than the others) and has trouble with depth perception, pecking the air above her food a few times before giving up. She does sometimes manage to eat and drink but she seems to have lost most of her appetite. She's also lost a considerable amount of weight, her comb is pale, and her eyes are cloudy, like she has cataracts. She has diarrhea and can still fly and find her way around the yard, her problem is measuring distance. What is this and what should we do?

 

[justplainbatty]

Hi, one of my chickens, a black Australorp, was sick at about 2 months old. We gave her some antibiotics which perked her up, and hasn't had any health issues since. She's about 11 months now, and a week and a half ago, we occasionally saw her nodding off during the day. We've put antibiotics and dewormer in the water and that's helped a little bit, but she's still sick. She's sluggish (sleeping most of the day and moving much slower than the others) and has trouble with depth perception, pecking the air above her food a few times before giving up. She does sometimes manage to eat and drink but she seems to have lost most of her appetite. She's also lost a considerable amount of weight, her comb is pale, and her eyes are cloudy, like she has cataracts. She has diarrhea and can still fly and find her way around the yard, her problem is measuring distance. What is this and what should we do?

have you checked the symptoms of Mareks? It can have some of the effects you mention. It can make the iris gray or the pupil really tiny and not reactive to light or make the iris oval instead of round.

 

[FluffyBetty]

have you checked the symptoms of Mareks? It can have some of the effects you mention. It can make the iris gray or the pupil really tiny and not reactive to light or make the iris oval instead of round.

I did, but I don't think that's it. Her eyes are just duller. It looks kind of like there's a white spot in one of her eyes in the sunlight, which made me think cataracts. The iris is the same color and the pupil is the same size and shape.

 

[jak2002003]

I used to have a hen that was blind.. or nearly blind. Her eyes looked normal.. except the pupils in the middle were always huge. She pecked at the air too... She cold not see food on the ground....

But she learnt to eat from the feeder and drinker.. which I always kept in the same place in the run so she knew where they were.

She used to use the rooster as a 'guide dog' by squashing up to him and following him around.

She lived a long life.. and even tried to hatch some eggs.. but she kept letting one roll out of the nest and chill.. as she could not see to roll it back under her.

But she was never sleepy like you say your hen is. Maybe your hen has another disease... or maybe she is weak from not getting enough food.

I would put her in a cage with a big pot of food and water and help her find them to eat. Giver her some scrambled eggs in the food too. as that has lots of protein and energy for her and will perk her up quickly.

In the cage you will see if she is pooping normally and if she has any other signs of sickness.

Hope she will be OK.

 

[FluffyBetty]

I used to have a hen that was blind.. or nearly blind.  Her eyes looked normal.. except the pupils in the middle were always huge.  She pecked at the air too... She cold not see food on the ground....

But she learnt to eat from the feeder and drinker.. which I always kept in the same place in the run so she knew where they were.

She used to use the rooster as a 'guide dog' by squashing up to him and following him around. 

She lived a long life.. and even tried to hatch some eggs.. but she kept letting one roll out of the nest and chill.. as she could not see to roll it back under her.

But she was never sleepy like you say your hen is.  Maybe your hen has another disease... or maybe she is weak from not getting enough food.

I would put her in a cage with a big pot of food and water and help her find them to eat. Giver her some scrambled eggs in the food too. as that has lots of protein and energy for her and will perk her up quickly.

In the cage you will see if she is pooping normally and if she has any other signs of sickness. 

Hope she will be OK.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. I'll try feeding her scrambled eggs and see if she gets some energy back.

 

[FluffyBetty]

I stuck her in a cage with some scrambled egg. She pecked it off the ground a little bit, but she's sleeping a LOT and doesn't show much interest. When I wake her up, she sometimes starts to look at the egg and falls asleep again immediately. She can't stay awake.

 

[FluffyBetty]

She's better in the late afternoons before bedtime, walking around with the other chickens. She ate and drank quite a bit today (still not nearly as much as normal). The sleeping is my biggest concern. Any ideas on what I can do about this?

 

[FluffyBetty]

I gave her some yogurt by dipping her beak in it. She cooperates but still shows little interest in food. My family is torn between trying to get her through this and letting nature take its course. The way I see it, if she's still managing to eat and drink out of the feeders and walking around with the other hens when she's not sleeping, we might as well try and get her well.

 

[FluffyBetty]

It's actually been going on for 2 weeks and she's still holding on. I've Googled ways to treat these kinds of symptoms so now I'm trying a heating pad in a box with a towel over it. I'm giving her water and yogurt. Here's a picture of her eye. It also has a blue sheen in certain lighting. It's a little hard to see the cataract, bad picture, but it's there.

 

[FluffyBetty]

I think she's panting too, that's new. She's probably on her way out.