Blind Chick...What do I do to get her to drink???

[sheridangirl]

My chicks hatched on Saturday and one of my chicks is blind...I guess. She does not startle or try to get away from my hand and she hides under the other chicks. She also chirps really loud and acts like she is lost.
What should I do? The biggest issue right now is I cant get her to drink. I will try some honey and will get vit B from walmart today... I read about keeping her in my shirt but I just had surgery due to breast cancer so I can't keep her there due to the possibility of infection...Any other ideas???

 

[Kasie]

put a little sugar in her water and possiably stick her beak down in the water not to far down though you could also use an eye drop and drip the water in but that would take a lot of time maybe you can seperate her from the others and put her in a smaller pin so that way she can find her water on her own.... how old is she? is she still under the heat lamp? Im so sorry that is a really hard situation

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I am having the same exact issue with a chick that hatched almost 3 days ago. So I'll be hoping for an answer with you. I almost culled it this morning.

but I just couldn't do it.

 

[chookchick]

Blind chickens can survive and do well with a little help. You need to train them to find the water and food, as they will use the sounds of others pecking and drinking, eventually to locate food and water, so keep her with the others. I would help her by putting a drop of water beside her beak until she slurps it in, as often as you can. Help her locate the food dish by tapping on it with your finger. Tap on the water dish and dip her beak in it. I would not put honey or sugar in the water, this can cause pasty butt--keep the water absolutely plain. Always keep the water and feed in the same place, and help her out as much as you can. If you want to give her vitamins, I would suggest poly-vi-sol drops (without iron)--dilute by half, one drop twice a day--put it by her beak until she slurps it in (don't put it in the water). Try this for a few days at most.

 

[sheridangirl]

Thanks for the help... I think she may also be deaf since she does not startle and does not react to any loud noise. I did get the vitamin B and put a very small amount in her beak and was using an eye dropper to place water on the side of her beak. Finally last night, I got her to take water from a RX bottle lid. I just put her beak into it and she drank all by herself. She also took yogurt mixed with olive oil and sugar. I had to hold it below her and she would move her beak around pecking into the air and she finally figured out where the food was. This is a great success and I hope it continues. I will leave her with her friends for now because I think she is doing okay. I will move her in a few days to her own pen and try to train her to find the food and water. I have a pigeon who has a scissor beak and can't fly.. I was thinking that I might put them together when she gets old enough but am not sure if they would get along?

 

[chookchick]

If she is learning where to find food and water that is great! I would leave her with her own kind (flock of chickens) that she is raised with. She will do best with them, as she learns from them where food and water is--she may find it much harder on her own. And they are familiar to her (her family). Please don't give her sugar as that will give her diarrhea. The plain yogurt with crumbles is good for her.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Chances are she won't make it but that doesn't mean to not try. I had a chick that was blind and it lived for a few weeks before it died.

I also have a hen who went blind due to cocci when she was a chick. Newbie days and I was still learning. This hen is still alive and getting close to a year old. She eats, drinks and lays her eggs like any other hen, just a little slower and more careful.

I do make sure she is always in a familiar coop. I keep the food and water in the same place and keep other chickens who aren't mean with her.

She is one of my very favorite hens.

 

[lemurchaser]

I have a blind chicken. She's now 3 years old and does great. Here is Helens story:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=66183&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=76185

I got her to eat and drink by feeding her raw egg yolks. First I dribbled yolk along her beak with a syringe and fed her a couple whole meals that way (she was very weak by this point), then I put the yolk in a jar lid, and repeatedly dipped her beak into it. She was hungry and figured it out pretty quickly. Then I began dissolving chick starter in it and slowly over a couple days, transitioned her to chick starter. Then one day she got too impatient to wait for me, and started eating the dry chick starter. I did have to sit with her while she ate, because she'd drift away from the lid, so I'd have to keep straightening her out, sometimes to the point of supporting her the whole time. I made sure to feed her while she was standing on the ground, and helped her eat off the ground/jar lid, so she didn't get used to eating while being held or with her head up. It was a time consuming activity. It would take about 30 minutes a meal, and I fed her 6 times a day.

Today, she free ranges in the back yard, has figured out how to eat grass, she knows where everything is and for the most part is a normal chicken. She lays eggs, puts herself to bed at night, all of it... although she does get up in the night sometimes (she doesn't know its dark).