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just wondering

blind chicken and mental illness?

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I saved this blind Welsummer 1 day ago from being put down ,b/c of it's blindness his chickens would peck at it. The sister had to be put down because it had that " drunken" thing. She's not even a year old .Now I'm not so sure if it is just blind. It has both eyes and can eat but sometimes it backs away from the food once it has already found it and tries to eat next to the bowl. When it backs up it makes a funny little sound. When it is standing or sitting down it turns it's head in a sort of pattern. It will turn it's head all the way around or all the way up and it doesn't do this in reaction to anything. Plus when it walks it puts one foot in front of the other and sometimes trips on it but can usually walk slowly fine. It doesn't react to the other chickens approaches and noises but it does when they peck at her. Right now she is inside and very lovable. On the flip side it reacts to us petting it and grooms itself normally.

 

I didn't know if this was an mental illness as well as blindness because I don't want this to get worse while I have her , get attached, and then have to put her down.The last owner wasn't sure if she had an illness but knew she was blind. I will have to look for anew home for her as it is but don't want to give them a chicken that needs to be put down. Any help would be great.

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I'm not exactly an expert, but...

I wonder what the quality of life would be like is she was not put down. Chickens are usually sociable, they will protect the flock by attacking weaker birds. It could be worse to keep her in an unhappy state.

I'm a big softie though so would understand someone wanting to keep her.

I'm not sure what other chickens you have, they may just be pecking her as she is new or smaller/weaker. I'm not sure how old she is either, maybe she would adapt as she got older if quite young? She might be disorientated if blind and trip. She probably would do funny things with her head if she can't see and doesn't know what is going on.

 

It's hard to tell almost any illness with a chicken, it does sound like it may be blindness if she is missing food/tripping. My Welsummer is a bit neurotic and will spook for no reason and tilt her head, freeze and watch what looks like nothing for a few minutes. She is bottom of the pecking order and still gets pecked after several months. She also runs/flies off if spooks and scares the other 2 so they follow.

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:( She sounds very similar to my lola, we thought she was blind as she behaved in a similar way. Sadly the drunken head thing got worse, and she ended up having little fits/mini strokes in which we would find her collapsed in the run - but after a bit of nursing the next morning she'd be fine. In the end though it was happening too frequently and she wasn't recovering the same, and we had to have her put down. The vets didn't really know what was wrong but thought it may be some (untreatable)condition where they have benign tumours on their nervous system. We had Lola just over a year - we would never have been without her, and I'm sure she had a happy little life until the end. Don't know if thats any help to you.
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thank you both for the advice. I was afraid that it might get worse it sounds like it will. :cry: My other chickens pecked at her when it seems like she didn't respond to them being there. I have a red star hen, Maran hen, plymouth rock rooster, and four japanese bantam ( 2 hen 2 male). Even the little hens and roosters picked at her and I'm just afraid that if I put her in there they will peck if she gets too close and doesn't know it. The thing is she doesn't peck at all in return she just ducks there and crys and so she won't move away like she is suppose to or tell them to leave her alone. She's not a year old but I don't know the time other then that. She also pecks the air alot even after I've fed her all up and took the food away for quite a while. I don't know if this pecking will be harmful to her state of mind b/c she won't know why she idsgetting pecked, where's it coming from, and how to get away. So far she been an inside pet that gets along with my dog and cat but I don't think we can keep her for long and I don't know where. I can't take care of her when my mom's at work and I'm at school so I don't know if it will work out.

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can you find a specialist poultry vet and see what they say? A google or the yellow pages might help you find one.

 

The story is so upsetting, poor little girl. You're very brave taking her on but it wouldn't be right to let her suffer if nothing can be done for her or she gets no better.

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