Skinny blind roo.....help please

[nstilwater]

I have a 20 week old Red Broiler roo that is blind in one eye. he was always hiding from the rest of the flock when younger but seemed to grow at the same rate so i didnt notice anything until it came time for freezer camp when everyone was rounded up and i noticed he was skinnier than the rest so i put him in a small grow out pen for a few weeks with one other chicken and noticed that he couldnt see from the one eye. the eye looks completley normal except for muscle wasting around the eye, i have been feeding him chick starter and a handful of scratch everday and although he eats and drinks normally he just doesnt seem to gain weight, i have him housed with a hen of the same age and she is perfectly healthy, he free ranges for half the day in my yard and eats lots of bugs, even hand fed bby my son who has adopted him and named him perry, does anyone have any suggestions for making him gain weight, he has moved from the range of chicken soup and is now a pet for my son, so culling him is not an option

 

[coffeechick]

I am a newbie in the chicken arena - - but maybe he just isn't eating as much as the rest but is still healthy? Have you tried giving him table scraps or a little yogurt? Maybe he just doesn't get as much food as the others because of his poor vision. The other thought would be possibly worms??
I hope all goes well and he just turns out to be a runt who is healthy and happy. Good luck!

 

[Slike]

Have you observed him dirtbathing?

I would check him thoroughly for any sign of mites. Lift his feathers and check especially well around his butt bluff, saddle (the tassely feathers on his lower back), under-wing fluff, hackles and around his head. In the event that he is being plagued by external parasites, they are likely robbing him of his food's nutrition, regardless of how healthy his appetite is.

In any event and regardless of what's causing him to be so thin, to help out his depleted body I'd feed him some cooked collard greens, kale, spinach, sweet potato (preferably orange or purple), broccoli - whatever you have on hand that's naturally bold and vibrant in colour, because these things tend to be highly nutritious. The carbohydrate content of the sweet potato is particularly helpful in this case. I prefer to either saute in oil or butter for "normal feeding" for the added fats which they love, or if I need to mix something else in with the food (any kind of herb/medicine) I steam em, cause its easy to mix well that way.