Bullies

[lcline]

Hello all!



I had a flock of 4. One of them suffered from a broken toe. It was my fault, I closed the back coop door suddenly on her toe. I splinted it that night and as it was evening I left her to roost. The next day the other three relentlessly ganged up on her so I pulled her to isolation for 3 weeks while her toe healed. She is not fully healed and walks normally. I figured she would get picked on if I put her back in the flock do I bought a new 1 year old hen and introduced them both at the same time to try and lessen the burden on my broken toe girl.



Well everyone completely ignored the new girl and constantly bullies my healed broken toe girl. It's been over 2 weeks and they are still picking on her. Constantly.

She won't come outside the coop often and when she does they gang up on her. She looks and acts Normal. Could they really remember from when she had an injury over a month ago!?



Two days in a row I found soft shelled eggs laid by our broken toe girl. So I'm guessing it's the constant stress.



Any thoughts here? I'm thinking my last resort is to take the top bully hen and keep her in isolation for a week or so. Shake things up.



Ideas?

 

[PoultryCQ]

Hello all!



I had a flock of 4. One of them suffered from a broken toe. It was my fault, I closed the back coop door suddenly on her toe. I splinted it that night and as it was evening I left her to roost. The next day the other three relentlessly ganged up on her so I pulled her to isolation for 3 weeks while her toe healed. She is not fully healed and walks normally. I figured she would get picked on if I put her back in the flock do I bought a new 1 year old hen and introduced them both at the same time to try and lessen the burden on my broken toe girl.



Well everyone completely ignored the new girl and constantly bullies my healed broken toe girl. It's been over 2 weeks and they are still picking on her. Constantly.

She won't come outside the coop often and when she does they gang up on her. She looks and acts Normal. Could they really remember from when she had an injury over a month ago!?



Two days in a row I found soft shelled eggs laid by our broken toe girl. So I'm guessing it's the constant stress.



Any thoughts here? I'm thinking my last resort is to take the top bully hen and keep her in isolation for a week or so. Shake things up.



Ideas?

You have to integrate them slowly. I would put her in a see not touch scenario. Taking the top hen would also help.

 

[lcline]

You have to integrate them slowly. I would put her in a see not touch scenario. Taking the top hen would also help.

I admit I was impatient to get her out of my spare bathroom but they did spend 2 days in my spare run which was loom no touch. How long would be ideal. I don't have proper shelter in the spare run so I would have to find some sort of more protected roost for them.

 

[PoultryCQ]

I admit I was impatient to get her out of my spare bathroom but they did spend 2 days in my spare run which was loom no touch. How long would be ideal. I don't have proper shelter in the spare run so I would have to find some sort of more protected roost for them.

Dog crates are large enough temporarily. Leave her in there for about a week. Does your bird have a crest? Is she missing feathers? When you finally let them see eachother face to face, its best to let them free range, so she can escape if she wants.

 

[Kellow1]

When you have a bully or two in the flock, it's best to remove one of them for a few days. Then when you put it back in the flock the pecking order is reset. Do this when you are trying to integrate new birds.