Well I have finally figured out what is wrong with my super shy hen. I have been going nuts thinking she is sick, possibly egg bound, the very bottom of the pecking order etc. She always stays away from the rest of the group, when I throw out feed and treats she inspects everything for so long before she eats it that it is almost always grabbed by somebody else. I had also been noticing that she seems weak and was laying around a lot. So today I picked her up and started assessing her just as I would any other patient that couldn't tell me what was wrong. And..... I found that she is completely and totally blind in her right eye! the pupil is blown and irregular in shape, she has no reaction to movement coming from that direction. This makes it hard to protect herself in the flock, she can't see half the hens coming after her, food is a little difficult to identify, hence the long inspection before eating things. So I am leaving her by herself in the coop in the mornings so she can eat in peace and get caught up in size and weight. She has never had an injury so I am wondering if this is a congenital defect as the eye looks normal except there is no clear demarcation between the pupil and the iris. They just kind of run together will post pic of it later today.
