Chicken fight! Need advice on integrating bird back to flock

[AbbyDog]

Hi all, I have finally joined the forum after lurking for the past year. This site has been a great source of information for me and my birds but now I need some advice. My 6 hens are all the same age (1.5 yrs) and have grown up together. They had a definite pecking order but it seemed fairly stable. A few weeks back, I finally noticed that one had a grossly obstructed crop (she was molting and I didn't notice until it was too late to save her without operating) and after performing the crop surgery on her TWICE (another story) she is finally healed up and gaining weight. However, she has been in my kitchen for nearly two weeks and now the other birds don't want her back. There is one in particular that just goes crazy after her to the point of where it makes me sick to watch them fight with each other. I have tried putting her on the perch in the dark (didn't work) and have put her in or outside of the coop so that they are separated by wire fence. Just a glimpse of each other is enough to make them puff up and lunge at each other like mad. I was just going to leave them to it but was getting sick at seeing this chicken that I worked so hard to save get all pecked up and bloody. I think it's to the point now of where she is not being aggressive back but is totally freaked out. I just saw that she has broken off the tip of her bill, I suppose by trying to peck and fight through the fence but i didn't see it happen. The aggressor was not the top bird but rather one of the lower ones- and i guess she was trying to go up a notch- but I have to get this flock back together as I have to go away for work and can't be taking chickens in and out of my kitchen night and day. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Judy]

Take the aggressor out for a week and try the one that was sick with the rest, after a period of seeing each other through wire.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Works every time for me.

 

[AbbyDog]

Update: The chicken (she has a name, Exene, but after living in close proximity with her for two weeks we just call her "the chicken") spent most of the day hiding out in the coop on the perch while the rest were off digging up my garden. So, she's back in the kitchen tonight so I can be assured that she's getting a good meal in her- because we have to leave town for a couple of days so she is going back in with the rest, for better or worse, tomorrow morning.

I am posting a pic of her beak which now has a chunk missing out of the top bill- will this grow back, is it sensitive to her, or any other comments?

 

[AbbyDog]

Oh, and I should add that in regards to removing a sole aggressor, that sounds easy, but at least two of the five hens had issues with her. Besides, I don't have a separate holding coop constructed yet.