Chicken having vision problems

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ThinMintTheChicken

ThinMintTheChicken

Crowing
Dec 22, 2020
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Ohio
Hello everyone, one of my chickens has recently started having trouble seeing. She is less than a year old (got her as a day-old in February 2021). She failed to show up at the coop at night for 2 days. First day was a surprise and she was with another chicken (named Prairie) by our house. Second day we (my sister and I) looked all over for her with a flashlight before locking up the coop, didn't see her outside, thought we saw her in the coop, but in the morning she was walking around all by herself. She has been showing signs of not being able to see as well because she slowly moves her head a lot as if she's trying to see, moving slowly, and pecking at air when she tries to eat. I'll post some pictures of her. She doesn't seem like she has any eye injury's at all which is confusing. I've dealt with half blind roosters and even one who was temporarily blind in both eyes and she seems to share some symptoms. Except I think she can see some, just not very well at all.
 
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Another thing: She has never shown any signs of vision issues prior to a couple days ago. She's always been really skittish. She used to have a huge comb though that flopped over but as you can see, it has shrunk quite drastically. Her breed is a blue andalusian by the way!
 
The pecking air reminds me of my Dark Brahma rooster who got in an accident as a cockerel. A door fell on his head (Sounds weird, I know) and somehow he survived and is the sweetest thing, but his recovery was shaky. I had immediately brought him into the house and wrapped him in a towel and held him, observing. His eyes were closed and swollen, and even today, more than two years later, his left eye is swollen and mostly blind, although he's gradually regained the ability to see light and movement (Based on his behavior, this is what I assume) in that eye. His right eye is fine and sees well, and DID see well once the swelling went down. I'm saying all this because he was pretty beat up, but once his eye(s) was normal and open again, he still struggled to eat or drink on his own. When he went to drink or eat from cups I had clipped to his cage while he healed indoors, he would completely miss despite it being almost at eye level. He continued to peck the air next to the food, and was always mere centimeters above the water so that he never actually dipped his beak, but thought he did.

He eventually got better as I helped dip his beak and hold food close to him in my hand, and now he is independent again, but this behavior is like what you've described. Even today, he drinks more like he's shoveling the water like a pelican than actually using his beak and tongue, and he eats sloppily. I'm not a veterinarian, but if your hen's eyes are perfectly fine externally like my rooster's now, then the eyes should not be a factor. I think my rooster got cognitive damage, especially since he was young and developing. Yours is young, so possibly she hurt herself somehow, even if you weren't there? Something could have hurt her internally, or her cognition might simply not be perfect. Again, I'm not a neuroscientist, but I think your hen might simply have internal problems or damage, either caused by genetics, environment, or injury--injury most likely, since you describe it as a sudden, recent change. For now I would watch her and try to help keep her hydrated and fed if she isn't independent, until you see if it worsens or improves.

I assume she is free range based on what you've said, with her expected to come back to the coop on her own. But seeing how she is well over 6 months old now, perhaps she is broody? Andalusian is not a broody breed, but it's technically possible to occur in any hen. However, a more likely outcome, is that because she is young, she might be trying to nest outside, and simply needs to be trained? My pullets and cockerels always need to be forcibly locked in the coop for several nights until they eventually understand and voluntarily go to sleep in the coop with the older birds, despite being integrated for a few months.

This became a rant, and I'm sorry I can't offer more explanation for the problem, but I hope I helped somehow! Good luck, hopefully it's just odd behavior!
 
Her eyes do look a bit peculiar, and there is a lot of color variation in her irises. Hard to tell in your pictures, but it the pupil in each eye sharp? It doesn’t look like her eyes are cloudy from cataracts or the iris is turning grey as in Mareks. Vitamin deficiency, ammonia fumes from droppings, and infections can be common causes for blindness. Does she get a balanced chicken layer or all flock feed? I would try to keep everything in the same location for her, since many partly blind chickens can get along fairly well in familiar surroundings. I had a hen who was blind in one eye, and she sometimes could not get back to the coop if she went outside the fence gate. I always did a head count in the evenings to make sure she was there, before closing the coop door.
 
Eggcessive said:
Her eyes do look a bit peculiar, and there is a lot of color variation in her irises. Hard to tell in your pictures, but it the pupil in each eye sharp? It doesn’t look like her eyes are cloudy from cataracts or the iris is turning grey as in Mareks. Vitamin deficiency, ammonia fumes from droppings, and infections can be common causes for blindness. Does she get a balanced chicken layer or all flock feed? I would try to keep everything in the same location for her, since many partly blind chickens can get along fairly well in familiar surroundings. I had a hen who was blind in one eye, and she sometimes could not get back to the coop if she went outside the fence gate. I always did a head count in the evenings to make sure she was there, before closing the coop door.
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I have her in a secure room in our barn with another chicken (she freaked out by herself) because she kept wandering off. Her pupils look fine to me, its like she can see me but has terrible coordination. She will lift her head and look at me when I enter the room and she still scratches at the ground, makes normal hen noises, and walks around. Its just that she has a really hard time eating and drinking because she moves her head so much. Its like she acts blind but she isn't. We give our chickens a mix of layer and all flock pellets.
 

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