Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Brood of Bournemouth on July 26, 2012, 19:21
-
My flock of young hens is made up of mixed breeds including a couple of polish, of which one has very restricted vision due to her rather fluffy pol almost completely covering her eyes (but not in her eyes). It is this that makes her quite nervous and unless she is very close to another chicken she will make loads of noise calling to others because she can't see them. The other polish does not suffer from this problem.
Is there anything i can do, or does she need to learn to live with it?
Any views or advice will be great.
-
Is it not possible to trim her eyes with some nail scissors so she can see? may take two people to do this though one tpo hold one to cut.
-
thanks for the response. I was hoping that someone would say to do that, however is it okay to simply trim feathers or are there guidelines to doing it?
-
You can trim the feathers, or you can tape her pompom up with something like micropore into a pony tail or mohawk. As long as it's not too right it won't cause any discomfort.
-
The 'polish breeders club' also recommend trimming feathers if you are not exhibiting her.
http://www.polishbreedersclub.com/tipsandideas.htm
-
I have Houdans which are similar (fluffy pol) I trimmed one of mine due to restricted vision.
She was a very nervous character and use to make a loud noise when you walked behind her.
She seems to be more settled now and isn't as nervous!
Hope all goes well.
-
Thanks for all the posts. I will try to trim them carefully which will hopefully cheer her up a bit.
-
Good news:), I have just trimmed the feathers around the eyes and they didn't struggle. I wrapped them in a small towel, and gently held the head to the side and trimmed. Straight away you can see that the nerves are gone, and have been replaced with confidence. Thanks all!
-
Nice one glad your polish hen can see ok now :)