Our Welsummer hen was attacked by a raccoon on Friday night. She would barely eat on Saturday, then not at all on Sunday. She couldn't even stay awake long enough for us to force feed her. We were preparing ourselves to say goodbye to her, but then we figured we'd try to shove a little sugar water down her throat just to see if she'd perk up long enough to eat something more substantial. It worked. Yesterday she pigged out on a blend of whole milk yogurt, her own egg scrambled, dried mealworms, and feed. Today she is markedly more energetic, preening herself again, and I'm totally optimistic about her recovery (yay!) but she's back to very light eating. Maybe it's because she ate so much yesterday? Maybe it's the new, rich diet she's getting? Maybe it's because she's not moving around much, spending most of her time in a dog carrier? We noticed she eats a bit more when we let her roam around with the flock, but we have to supervise very closely or the others will peck at her wounds. It's hard to know how much food is enough when the diet she's getting is so much richer than we're used to seeing them eat. What should we do? I was thinking switch her back to just feed and only a little bit of egg and mealworms to supplement. Any suggestions, peeps?
