will a broody hen kill her peep

[swansong]

i am a bit confused on what is going on in my coop. 3 broody hens, only one hatched peep. The peep has an eye injury and both 2 hens seem very aggressive towards it. Is it b/c they are setting on eggs and think it is a threat or is it b/c of the eye injury? The way they treated the poor thing tonight, im starting to think THEY gave it the eye injury. I have removed the peep to treat the eye, plus noone was taking care of it. Anyways, i am just concerned this poor little thing isnt going to have any little playmates, no mommy and i wont be able to reintroduce it to the flock smoothly. Any ideas?

 

[Supermommy486]

Yes, they very well could have done it. Any injury and chickens will usually peck at it, so removing the chick was a good idea. How old is the chick? Are your broody hens sitting on eggs? You could *maybe* sneak it under one of the broody hens after it heals if they are not sitting on anyfertile eggs but that may or may not work especially if the chick is too big. It would kind of be a trial and error thing. If you end up having to keep it in a brooder it can get lonely being the only one. So you may want to think about getting another chick from a local or something so it has a buddy. Good luck!!