Chicken integration question- won’t come out of the coop

[Ohsrsly]

I did the "place on the roost at night" method last night to integrate, but now I am worried about a new chicken who has only come out of the coop once, was pecked at/chased and retreated back to the roost bar in the coop. Should I encourage her to leave the coop or leave her be? What about food and water?

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old are the chickens involved? Not just the new one but also the others. How many new, how many old? How much room (in feet or meters) do you have in the coop and in the run? Each chicken is an individual with its own personality so you can't always be sure of what is going on, but this sounds like the new chicken(s) could be less mature than the older ones. It could help to know what you are working with.

My goal with integration is not that they are cuddling and loving on each other or even hanging together. My goal is that no one gets hurt. That's all, no one gets hurt. All of that other stuff can come later.

My pullets form a sub-flock until they start to lay. Once they start to lay they are accepted into the mature pecking order. They are living animals so of course there can be exceptions, but typically my pullets avoid the adults until they start to lay. If they invade the personal space of an adult they are likely to get pecked. It doesn't take them long to learn to avoid the adults. If you have enough outside space so they can avoid, the young ones can hang out there. If room is tight the only way to avoid may be to stay in the coop on the roost.

You can get somewhat the same reactions when integrating adults. They have to work their way into the pecking order. Sometimes that involves fighting, sometimes intimidation. Each chicken is different with its own personality, each flock has its own dynamics. The same thing does not always work the same for everyone.

Should I encourage her to leave the coop or leave her be?

Without knowing what you are working with my suggestion is to leave her be.

What about food and water?

One of the common suggestions on this forum is to provide widely separated food and water stations during integration so the intimidated can eat and drink without being bullied. Preferably out of line of sight of the other station. Not knowing what you are working with that could mean one food station and one water station inside the coop and one of each (or more) outside.

There are some suggestions we might be able to make to help you if we knew what you are working with, things like clutter. That is stuff they can hide under, behind, or use it to get over the others. Do you consider your run predator proof where you would be comfortable leaving your pop door open overnight? Relative size of the new ones and the old ones might be helpful. If the new ones are quite a bit smaller than the others you may be able to use the safe haven concept, having small holes only the new ones can get through. But without knowing what you are working with I don't know if any of these are viable.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Not wanting to overwhelm you with info, @Ridgerunner gave you excellent suggestions. But did you try the "see-no-touch" method for a week or two before adding this chicken to the flock? If you are not familiar with this technique, here is some reading on the process.

This is my article on Integrating:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-a-pictorial-guide.79343/

And here is another excellent article on integrating flocks:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-chickens-step-by-step.72815/