3 month old Polish roo anemic and suddenly blind

[bebesdeivanka]

Hello,

I am desperate for advice! Three days ago we found our 3 month old Polish all lethargic, sitting quietly in the middle of the coop. I brought him in and recognized he was anemic (pale wattles, crest, face, weak). My guess is that the grown up hens or other roosters did not let him eat (properly). He had some balance issues too. No lice, mites, nothing. No injuries either.

I started him on Kualcovit (all vitamin B, niacin ect, that fights anemia in kittens and is a miracle maker). He has recovered his balance and it looked like he generally felt better, but seemed a bit disorientated. He refused to eat or drink water on his own so I gave him some with the tiny, 1ml syringe. I gave him some dewormer too (Piperazine).

On day two I noticed that he is BLIND. He was perfectly fine before and he has no grey spots in the eyes (just a normal eye but it does not react to my finger, light changes.. nothing)
After googling I read that lack of vitamin A causes temporary blindness, so I started to give him the commercial vitamin bag for birds (on the photo, the yellow one) and today, since he still shows no improvement we started to feed him tiny portions of started feed directly in to his mouth.

i read that it could be Mareks too but I have no history of it in my flock. Did anyone had experience with temporary blindness? Is there anything more I should do?

Thank you in advance

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have any clear pictures of the eyes? I would continue giving him some vitamins for a couple of weeks. Do you give a balanced chicken feed to your chickens? Chickens with vision problems do okay if in a familiar environment. Hopefully good nutrition will help. If he has feathers around his eyes, keeping those trimmed may help his sight. Even when chickens are blind they can still see objects and shadows, so may be able to survive.

 

[bebesdeivanka]

Do you have any clear pictures of the eyes? I would continue giving him some vitamins for a couple of weeks. Do you give a balanced chicken feed to your chickens? Chickens with vision problems do okay if in a familiar environment. Hopefully good nutrition will help. If he has feathers around his eyes, keeping those trimmed may help his sight. Even when chickens are blind they can still see objects and shadows, so may be able to survive.

Hi, yes, here is the photo! we took him out to the sun to take it and it reacted! That should be good news right? Yesterday it was more dialated

 

[Eggcessive]

Do both irises and pupils look the same and sharp, with normal color? Is the iris color changing or less vivid?

 

[bebesdeivanka]

Do both irises and pupils look the same and sharp, with normal color? Is the iris color changing or less vivid?

yes they look the same (both eyes) and they did not change colors

 

[bebesdeivanka]

Hello, update after 3 days of vitamins! He has been syringe fed starter feed and vitamin water and is very perky and in general kinda looks perfect! He is still blind though, and refusing to try to eat or drink alone. Not even trying to peck at anything. Sometimes it feels like the eye reacts to different types of light and today he was much more 'observant' which makes us think he might be starting to see a bit more (shadows maybe?).

I have discovered a peck in the middle of his head. I was thinking that might be the issue..That another chicken pecked him right in the brain .. it was minimum but it might have been enough.. I guess we will see!

 

[bebesdeivanka]

Hello,

we started giving him one drop of Betametason (our vet suggested it to see if it would reduce swelling where it got pecked). Both of his eyes/ pupils are now very much responding to the light, he walks around without bumping into things which makes me think he can see enough to feel comfortable.

BUT he still wont eat or drink by himself! it's so weird. We give him food and water 3 times per day, he walks around and we saw him peck at his food maybe three times this week. I put him together with some 6 week chicks I have since they are eating and drinking very vocally.

Any suggestions are more than welcome.
We are happy that he is a happy baby again, but it would be just the best if he would become more independent.

 

[SummerTheAnimalGirl]

Hello,

we started giving him one drop of Betametason (our vet suggested it to see if it would reduce swelling where it got pecked). Both of his eyes/ pupils are now very much responding to the light, he walks around without bumping into things which makes me think he can see enough to feel comfortable.

BUT he still wont eat or drink by himself! it's so weird. We give him food and water 3 times per day, he walks around and we saw him peck at his food maybe three times this week. I put him together with some 6 week chicks I have since they are eating and drinking very vocally.

Any suggestions are more than welcome.
We are happy that he is a happy baby again, but it would be just the best if he would become more independent.

Hi! How is he doing?

 

[Eggcessive]

Did the steroid drop help at all? Is the peck wound better? Does he now eat and drink on his own?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hello, update after 3 days of vitamins! He has been syringe fed starter feed and vitamin water and is very perky and in general kinda looks perfect!

Sorry you face this. Sound like it could be Marek's.. plenty of birds survive with it. The vaccine only HIDES symptoms but does not prevent the disease from proliferating.

See if this link gives you any more good or valid information..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Also, consider getting a necropsy done by your state vet (if you're in the US). They can be very informative.. regarding how to proceed for the rest of your flock.

Hope you find answers and that he recovers quickly!