MeanAileen
Hatching
- Nov 6, 2022
- 2
- 1
- 7
Hello all! I have a question about a broody hen. So my hen Peggy, (formerly known as ChiChi), is about 3 years old and just before Christmas last year she was asleep late at night on a perch in her locked coop when somehow a raccoon was able to grab one of her feet and ripped it off. All that was left of the foot was some bones. (Painful!!) I did what I felt was best and cleaned it very well then wrapped it moderately tightly with non stick gauze and self sticking wrap and brought her inside, giving her crushed up baby aspirin mixed in yogurt for the pain. There she lived for the next 7 or 8 months, and I'm happy to say that her foot healed up better then I expected, and she was left with a clean stump of a leg. (Hence her new name, Peggy). She surprised me once she was back outside in her reinforced coop, making her way up there narrow plank to the hen house with ease, with only one foot! However, since she's been back outside she's become super broody, a quality she never displayed before her injury, plus there are no roosters so she's being broody over lifeless eggs. She's so bad that she will puff up and growl at me and attack my hands when I try to remove her. I try to tempt her with her favorite treat of cottage cheese mixed with oats and topped with dried mealworms, but to no avail. She will just hop around all mad, clucking and squawking, then just head back to the hen house as soon as I leave. It's getting down to freezing temperatures at night now so I feel terrible leaving her in a cage. I don't know what to do. She's getting thin. Should I force feed her with a syringe?? Any suggestions are welcome...
