Update: Pissy -> Going Blind Chicky?

[zumzumfoxy]

Hey all!

Okay, we've been messing around with various vision tests. Both Stormy's eyes' pupils adjust properly, and she reacts well to vibration and motion, but her right (our left, the one I'd been having issues with her pecking my left arm) seems to be nonresponsive. If we extend our palms open and make abrupt motions towards her, she responds immediately by ducking when it's her left side. That's not the same for her other side; she doesn't duck at all until it's right up near her face an inch or so.

She seems to be functioning normally. I'm wondering if her heterochromia is linked with this or something. But nonetheless, the biting behavior seems to be recent so I'm thinking perhaps she suddenly started developing blindness or something in her right eye. She's calm when we hide her head by cupping her head in our hands gently. When she gets light, her left eye is very responsive. Her right eye doesn't seem to change at all. She can sense something near it, but it seems maybe she can't see.

I wonder if she's going blind? When I reach under with my left arm now, she's not responding fearfully at all (and unfortunately I can't tell if it's from tapping her or not prior).

How do you tell if a bird is blind or going blind???

 

[sumi]

Going blind? I hope not! Though she is behaving weird, it might be...

Is it possible you can take her to a vet for a check-up? I know it must be incredibly frustrating for you, thanks for your patience

Wouldn't life be sweet if we could talk to them and ask them what the problem is? I often wish I could do that! Good luck to you both.

 

[zumzumfoxy]

I found a vet over in Weare, but the secretary said he "doesn't bother to see chickens anymore since it's not worth the time for small-scale owners"...

The last time I tried to talk to him/the office, they redirected me to UNH's agriculture department over questions I'd had about various vaccinations (some of my girls aren't vacc. against Marek's/etc, while some are), who ultimately kept redirecting me to different people and then told me to ask Agway, who told me getting them vaccinated wasn't worth it and too expensive (and an online vet told me the same thing after that). So pretty much, I had a runaround from the only chicken vet in the state. >.<

No worries on patience.

As far as talking goes- I'm really empathic and in the past with various small pets I've had, I've been able to 'connect' with them via images or simple projected words. I've been able to help guinea pigs, gerbils, and rats in this way. Some respond very well to Reiki treatment. I also did Reiki on Jet when she was newly brought home and had rickets; it worked well on her.

I'm thinking that if she really IS going blind in one eye, she'll get used to it and I'll just be slower around her- that should help, I think?

EDIT:

OH MY GOD STORMY JUST JUMPED OUT OF THE COOP ONTO MY LAP! Happy chirping and everything!! Wow, talk about a 180! Makes me wonder if she really did try to communicate that her vision was messing up and she wanted us to do vision tests with her or something. But still! Happy chirps! And this is the first time she's jumped onto me since she was a chick! <3

 

[BooBear]

Poor Stormy. The good news is she has you caring for her.
Sounds like she is realizing you want to help. You may have a lap chicken yet.

 

[chickmashnoon]

Just been keeping an eye on your Stormy story, and I have to say that I am amazed at the vet's reaction. You sound like your chickens are more your pets rather than livestock and I would think that would show thru the phone. Yeah, it may not be cost efficient to treat chickens when you add up vet bills, feed, litter, and subtract that from the number of eggs/lbs of meat produced but when you call a vet on a problem like that I would think it would be obvious the animal has moved from food status to friend status, and when someone is your friend the price tag on the vet bill isn't weighed against your bottom line.

What's the difference between food and friend? our attitude. I am amazed that a vet would not see this or realize this after working with both catagories even a short while. A livestock owner would worry about contagion and whether the animal should be culled. A pet owner is concerned for the animals comfort, health, and mental state. Good luck with your Stormy!

 

[zumzumfoxy]

Yeah, they're definitely more companions/pets to me than a source of food. I don't think I'd ever kill one to eat (I live by 'harm none'- I don't think I'd be able to end the life of something precious to me. I go fishing for food since I don't have much money available at any given time, and try to be picky about where I get my meat from since I do need it in my diet for good health), but if one of the girls died, I'd not waste what was left. They're moreso egg layers soon since I eat about 80+ eggs a month and it's more economical for me to have chickens than to keep spending $20+ on eggs that taste cruddy at the grocery store (plus the gas price issue and going to the other end of the city!).

I know, right? I was really surprised at the reaction. I was expecting a warm/friendlier response. I remember when I had my rat, I often went for a few days without food so I could pay $300+ vet bills for the little guy in hopes of extending his lifespan. It worked 'til I discovered he had a brain tumor.

He was wonderful though.. I don't regret any of it. Being hungry is transitory but a little one is relying on me so the choice is easy in my eyes.

I'm really happy Stormy's getting better.

She's been scuffling away on the floor of the coop all day so far, just being fluffy and not being picked on by anyone (and occasionally stomping on someone! LOL). It looks like a good progression. I think she might be realizing it, like Boo said, and maybe she's letting me help her now. She was a sweetie til all the harassment, then she was AnxiousChick, then FearChick, then going-blind-everyone's-gonna-get-me chick, but she's going back to being a sweetie, so it's a plus.

Hoping for the best!

 

[sumi]

You know, I really like you! I feel the same about animals, recently we went on one meal a day, but my chickens and pigs still ate very well. Hell, I often feed the pigs our food... Though when one of my hens ran into a pole and broke her neck we buried her. I still can't eat them. I will not ever eat chicken meat or battery eggs and I'm careful about meat, though I love fish. Just don't have the patience to go fishing!
I've read an article in a magazine about a woman who "talks" to animals and can hear them talk etc. She offers workshops. I'll look for the magazine and get you her name if you'd like? I'd love to do something like that one day. Would be interesting to know what's going on in there...
Give Stormy a big cuddle from me.

 

[zumzumfoxy]

X3 LOL, thank you! I like you too

Oh man, I'm sorry! That sucks. >.< I still eat chicken, but I try to buy it organic/fresh when I can afford it instead of going for the cheap 'generic brand' stuff. (I'm still at a point where I've been living on my own for 2 years but still can't pay for food most of the time and relying on external help. >.< ugh. )

But yeah, that'd be interesting to see what the lady says about Stormy.

She was being another cuddle bug last night. I keep feeling like Stormy's got her shields up by default- I'm still also trying to figure out how chickens perceive/interact. Vocalization among each other- sure, definitely. But I'm used to communicating via pictures or simple words; I think they go off of emotion rather than those.

EDIT: I turned on my reiki music and gave her a reiki healing for as long as she would want it. She slumped her wings, unwound, cooed like crazy for a few minutes, quieted and loved being cuddled. She did try to nip once at me but she peacefully got onto my arm today

she's being better. I even got beak wipes!

 

[sumi]

Hi, the lady's called Amelia Kinkade, I see she's American. I see she offers courses and she's written two books "A Celebrated Psychic Teaches You to Talk to Animals" and "Straight from the Horse's Mouth: How to Talk to Animals and Get Answers".
I'm with you on the living cheap. We're near small, rural town with very limited job opportunities and we've done the strangest things over the past few years to survive. I decided to give selling eggs a shot and got a 40 layer hens. We're now expanding and adding 40 ex batteries to our flock, as I can't keep up with the demand for fresh free range eggs. The things are hard to find and expensive! I keep my prices low and my customer list is constantly growing. So I'm in the great position that I do something I love and make money. You should see if you could do something like that where you are.
I just hate it when I lose a chicken. Especially chicks. This had been a hard year for chicks, I must've lost about 25, quite a few at birth with a stupid hen. That was the last time I let her sit...
I like hearing about your progress with Stormy. It's nice to hear about people who doesn't just give up and throw away a chicken. I've overdosed on bad chicken stories over the last few years (ignorance IS bliss) and it's great to chat with someone who's making an effort.
People around here think I'm nuts, but I'd rather hang out with my feathered friends than most of them so I don't care! My chickens don't drink alcohol all the time, they don't gossip, they don't get resentful when things go well for us, they don't abuse our kindness and generosity, they don't steal from us, they don't irritate us with racist talks and arrogance.... My husband reckons chickens are better because they are honest about who they are, whereas people have the ability to be amazing, but often choose not to be. Enough said.
I wish you were closer to me so I could ask my amazing vet to look at Stormy. I MUST get him onto this forum. He came out specially to look at a sick chick of mine and a few weeks ago he spent 3.5 hours in the pigpen with me holding my hand while my pig had babies. And he didn't charge me a sent. He's an angel. We should all have one of those.
Give Stormy a kiss for me. (And don't tell me you don't kiss chickens)

 

[zumzumfoxy]

Small world!

I've heard of her. I'll see if I can scope out her books soon. (Just got slammed with vehicle inspection failure- hidden leak, ugh.)

I hear you on doing the strangest things- one day on my 60-mile commute to MA and back up to NH, I found myself picking up roadkill and learning taxidermy. (As it turns out, I love doing it most of the time... but my skills are self-taught and not enough to open a shop yet.) I made $900 that winter and it helped me pay the bills and get a little food (from the grocery store!) in my stomach.

Right now, we're living in an apartment complex and my fiance is in the middle of getting Microsoft certified. I was actually thinking the last few weeks that I'd love to just raise tomatoes/corn/herbs and have chickens raise and produce eggs to sell, but that means getting a house first (which is our next step, once we actually get enough income together to get the bills paid. We've been relying on extensive IOUs for 2 years while we get set up, and I make only about $800/mo biweekly- so everything I've got goes right back out the door plus I still owe more bills, ugh).

I lost one of my first chicks. :< I had bought two, Red (my RIR) and Ply (a barred Plymouth rock). She was really sleepy all the time so I think she was just sick or something, but I read you could give a little epsom salt mixed in a huge amount of water to control her diahhrea. I gave her a sip of the diluted solution and 5 minutes later she started convulsing and died in front of Red, who had her wings out in an OMG expression. Poor thing cried for days until I brought home Jet the next week. :< I still think it was my fault (salt toxicity?), but there's no way to prove it. I'm giving the little frozen chick to a friend of mine who wants it for taxidermy purposes so it'll at least be a better afterlife/goodbye.

Has it been a hard year for chicks?? How come?

Hahah... yeah, I hear you about chickens (and I can't stand the idea that people think they're disposable 'if they stop working right' or how they want them to be). I hope to give my girls a nice long life so they can live to see their chicks have chicks. ;D But yeah, chickens are pretty awesome. I'm too busy at work to really schedule a day off for some friend to come over, but I'm fine by myself and with my birds! I swear, having pets is a necessary need for my brain to remain happy. The longest I've gone without a pet is a year before I'd just sit/exist/work/sleep/eat/repeat.

Heeeyyyy, yes they do, ROFL.. my girls steal their shed feathers back and eat them when I try to take the feathers (for crafts & nostalgia).

I'm pretty sure they talk about me in chickenspeak, and are mildly racist on their own kind to some extent... but hahah, the rest is about right! And Red loves to peck at my mouse and watch the arrow on the screen move, then stomp the keyboard to see numbers and letters form.

Whereabouts do you live?? I'm up in southern NH. That's really awesome you've got such a great vet!

I'm hoping to at least keep my girls healthy. I need to get food grade Diama... ( eff it) Earth, for them sometime soon. Do you know a recommended age? - aside from that, I've kept them on amprol and sulfa as per The Chicken Doctor (first state veterinarian supply)'s directions from when Stormy and Amberbock came home exposed to it from a nearby seller's pen at a chicken swap. (Still ticked that someone would try to sell their infected birds!! Augh! )

ROFL... completely guilty as charged!

My fiance smooches chickens and I wound up doing it to Stormy and Chai too today. Whoops! .... but they're so dang CUTE.