AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

One of my 6 free range peahens has gone blind. Up until a few days ago she was still able to see enough to peck her food, drink water and roost in her usual spot, but the total deterioration of her sight came very quickly and she can't see anything except the occasional shadow. She now can't see where her food or water is and we had to put her up on her roost last night and we got her down in the morning. We are now hand feeding her all the things she likes about four times a day and holding her water dish so she can drink. She is totally disoriented at the moment, but when she is in her pen that she knows very well, she seems more secure. All the other girls roost in the large trees a few metres from the house, but she has always chosen to roost in the pen where she, and her two 'mates' were housed when they first arrived. We let her out to be with her two other girls but although she has known our place since she arrived almost 10 years ago she is now hesitant to wander too far from the enclosure which is understandable and as soon as she hears the gate open she slowly finds her way back inside.

Has anyone else had a peahen or peacock go blind? Also would anyone know the reason this may have happened?

Any advice would be sincerely appreciated.

Oh my that is not good

Is it possible she has had a fight with another hen or male and had eye damage??

Reply to Moderater:

Thank you for your reply. No. There is a definite pecking order amongst my girls but I have never seen them fight and they are around the house-garden all the time. The three males have altercations if one goes into another's territory, but they would never hurt the girls and I have had them for over 10 years now. She simply went blind and I have never experienced this with any of my animals or poultry in 36 years (I have chooks, geese, ducks and peafowl, plus sheep and goats) . I had noticed that she walked in a strange way holding her head up and to a side as though she was listening for something, but all the time she must have been losing her sight and I never thought to pick her up and check. She is a lovely girl and easy to feed. I began by putting food into the front of her beak and she would swallow it, and now I am trying to teach her to eat out of my hand, she hasn't quite got the hang of that yet but is happy eating the food I put at the front of her beak. She has not lost weight so I think she is fine. She has two other girls she spends all her time with and she prefers to be in the pen which is 20 meters by 5 meters and we now put her up on her perch at night and take her down in the morning. If a stranger saw her they would never pick her as being blind. She knows her pen so well that she walks through the doors etc. without bumping into anything. I figure if humans can cope with sudden blindness, then she can too because animals are soooo much more adept at coping with anything life throws at them and they do it without whining or complaining. I will keep looking after her as long as I feel she is coping and happy, nothing much else I can do.
Thanks again for your reply. :0)

She will adjust to it

Yep I have 2 old chooks with little or no sight and they do well

wow thats amazing

I hope she recovers soon

thats so good to know if I ever get a chook to live past 1 year and it goes blind

To all those who have taken the time to reply, thank you so much.

To Winglet
Why don't your chooks live past 1 year? I have four girls that are now over 16 years. One other girl died recently, she was much older and a few weeks before she died she would wander away and just stand not knowing where she was and we would have to go get her and bring her back and then she would be fine - very much like Alzheimer's disease in humans. We knew then that she would not be with us much longer. Old poultry, like all old animals, take a lot of care but it is so worth it, although it breaks your heart when they finally go.

Thanks again everyone.