Copy and paste from my comment on a post about caring for blind chickens: (with some additional details added specific to house chickens)
Ebony (our 3-year-old Black Australorp) became our house chicken after having a run in with our foxhound, Revan (May '24). She had an tunneling abdominal wound down her left side that took around 6 months to heal, and she acclimated to living with us in the house full time while recuperating. We didn't know at the time, but Revan suffered from osteoarthritis; a battle that he lost this June. In March '25, Ebony jumped up on my daughter's bed one night, not knowing Revan was lying there, and he snapped.
The resulting injury included another, more shallow abdominal wound along with head, and throat trauma. She was blind after the attack with pupils that no longer constricted. I tube fed her through the worst of the initial healing, and she eventually regained the desire to eat on her own. After many months, and the complete recovery from her other wounds, her sight did not return. At this point, (July '25) one of her eyes has the glassy appearance of a fully dilated pupil that never constricts but is otherwise normal, and her other eye has an unresponsive but normal pupil and is deflating. She will most likely lose this second eye.
All in all, she's healed up quite well, and is acclimating to living without vision, but she will never return to the flock. She spent so long inside recuperating from the first injury that she no longer knows the area outside, and is no longer part of the (rather entrenched) pecking order.
She has a large dog crate in the house, with a cat "food and water fountain" that allows her to hear when she's near the food and water. She finds it without issue, and is very aware when she hears food hitting the dish. Heck, she knows the sound of the bsf container even before it hits the dish. She gets scraps from our dinners, and eats the regular home mixed feed the rest of the flock gets. She also gets treats, and I mix grit into her food to make sure she gets that too. She hasn't laid an egg since the injury, so she does not currently get oyster shells, but I do offer her the occasional egg shell when I make her eggs. She's not usually interested in the shell... But very interested in the eggs...
Also in her crate is a a three-tiered spice rack with traction material (The soft side of industrial strength velcro) added that she uses like steps to climb to perch at night. Another of these spice racks creates the perfect set of steps for her to get out of the crate, which she does swimmingly, and move around in what we lovingly call her "porch" which has two small dog beds that she hangs out in.
We keep everything lined with cut down pieces of an old sheet that can be regularly changed and washed to keep her area clean. We tried shavings, but she just made a terrible mess with them and seems to be happier on a cloth lined tray. I've thought about adding a covered litter box dust bath, but I'm still negotiating that with my husband.
She spends quality time with us as her flock all day everyday. (I work from home and my two teenage daughters are homeschooled, so there's always someone snuggling our Mamacita.) We take her out back for dust bathing and free-ranging opportunities several times a week as the weather allows, and several of our hens lay their eggs inside the house, so she does interact off and on with them while they're inside "visiting".
I've been trying to convince my husband to get a friend for her... a non-human companion that can be a full-time inside flockmate. (Other than our puppy which she understandably does not want to interact with.) Possibly a bantam chicken, lovebird, or cockatiel. The main issue (other than my husband's objection to additional house pets) is that Ebony was really high up in a pecking order before her initial injury. She might be more likely to bully her new flockmate then befriend them. They'd have to be docile enough to not take advantage of her in her vulnerable state, but dominant enough not to allow her to bully them. I'd love suggestions if you have any for a companion.
I've attached some pictures in case they're helpful to anyone. If anyone wants to see pictures from during the healing process of any of her injuries, message me directly.
For context into the images:
1. The second story crate is where one of our rooster sleeps at night to save the neighbors
2. The cat crate and cube at the top is where a few of our hens lay their eggs during the day.
This setup is right in our living room behind the couch in the center of everything happening in the house.
If you're interested in links for any of the products we're using, just let me know and I'll dig them up for you.
