Pecking Butt til RAW and BLOODY!!

[Wolfwoman]

I kept one meat bird from the last batch that I raised. She was the only hen, so I thought, what the heck. Named her Tweety.

I integrated her into the flock the first time, and the didn't slam her too badly as far as trying to dominate her, but then the next morning they had started picking at her butt. I took her out, healed her up.

So back into the coop and they did it again, only WORSE this time. Now, I was a bit smarter this time and slathered her tailfeathers and butt with BluKote AND Pine Tar.

It seems is wasn't enough even tho she was black and blue all over her rear end.

Somehow they saw a little bit of pink skin in there and went at her BADLY.... all this in one night.

She is 12 or 13 weeks old and about 10 pounds... larger than ALL the rest. But as a meatie she is slow and cumbersome. She also isn't well feathered yet... might be some of the problem.

So this time will take a little more healing time. Gave her a bath tonight and got all the crusties and blood and poop off, blow dried her, gave her treats and put her in the dog kennel.

So what to do before then next attempt at integrating? I don't want her pecked raw and bloody again.

 

[justbugged]

I would try to put her in a cage that the other birds can see her, but can't get to her. I would give that a few days and then slip her in at night to the coop. I built a transition cage with just some 1" by 2" lumber and chicken wire. I made it small enough to get into the run with the other birds. I had a small feeder a waterer that I had laying around. It worked well the first time I tried it.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Done did that. She's been in a kennel right outside the door of the coop the whole time. Almost 3 weeks now. Didn't help.

 

[Chikndinner]

well my name may tell you what I would do but that may not be appropriate in your case...

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
I already have 40+ in the freezer and wanted to see what happened with a hen. Am wanting to breed her to a large roo, so no, in this case it's not...lol

 

[DelawareSilkie]

Only suggstions I can give is to gently whack the chickens when they pick on your breeder hen. If it's a different breed and especially a different color, then your current chickens will feel biased against her and attack with full force. That happened to my roo who is almost twice as big as my other roos. If you have the resources try feeding them at different areas, maybe that will help ease the integration.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Apparently the stress of the bath and blow dry and moving around and such were too much for Tweety as she died last night. Looks to be a heart attack.

Mods please lock as nothing further is needed.

Thanks.