Hello from Arizona - Need help on re-introducing an injured chicken to the flock!

Date sort Score sort
chickie farmer said:
I would separate the hen from the others by using chicken wire between them. this way they can get used to each other over time. If you let your other hens out of the run to range, you could try letting her out with them. they will most likely be busy looking for insects, That is how I introduced them to my older hens. Of course, This time of year is different. you may try introducing her to the others while they are roosting at night. Just watch her closely if they are THAT aggressive.
Click to expand...

Boy, this is such a dilemma for us. You see, my husband built one heck of a coop with a fenced backyard. The coop is inside our barn as you can see in my profile picture and there is a wall - they go outside through a hole in the wall, down a ramp, and into a fenced backyard. The fenced backyard is big but it is also a fortress from predators. We have electric wire on the outside so that the hens cannot get shocked and predators can't get in. Because of the way it was built, the predators, and a busy street next to us, they cannot free range. Hind sight is we should have made a way for them to go outside beyond their fenced yard, but now we cannot.

So, with all that being said, we originally were going to put chicken wire between them in their backyard, but by doing so would mean the isolated chicken would also need to spend the night outside in the dog crate. We were afraid that it would be too cold for her. So, she is isolated in the barn and has heat at night.

This probably sounds way too protective, I'm sure. But they've gotten used to a heated coop at night and a protected fenced yard so we didn't want to shock our injured hen by providing her a cold and dark place.

As for introducing her to the others while they are roosting at night, this is also a dilemma. We have heat lamps on at night which give off a red glow. I'm afraid that they will be able to see her when I put her in there at night. Is this true? I don't know anything about their eye sight but if they can attack an injured hen from the sight of blood, then they would probably still attack her at night with the red glow. Or, maybe the red glow at night would throw them off. Who knows?! That is an option we can try and I haven't ruled it out yet. But, I did order the pinless peepers and I'm praying that they will work. Thank you so much for your advice !
smile.png
 
What I did with mine was to make the chicken wire wall (attached with a 1x2 on one end of the end of the wire) and hooked it onto the wall. this way, I could move the wire on the either side of the pop door to let my new hens in or out of which I separated (with chicken wire) the run just enough so they could have some running room and sand to dust in. making sure both sides had water. then at night, I would let THEM back in, then move the wire back on the other side of the door to let the older ones in. I did this on the outside of the pop door too.After 2 weeks, I tore down the wire wall and they were fine. They got used to one another this way. I did let them out to free range together while I was out there with them the day before I put them together just to see how they did. They stayed around me most of the time. Once in a while, one of the older ones pecked at one just to let her know she was higher up on the pecking order. I let them out about 2 hours before night fall and I always stay out there with them until they go back in. Of course this was done in the summer. It does get cold here in Michigan. I also use a red lamp for heat. I hook it up on the ceiling about 2 1/2 - 3 feet above the roosters head over the roost.
Chickens have trouble seeing red with a red light. When the hens pick on my rooster and draw blood, I use blu-cote after I stopped the bleeding. They don't like the taste of it and it hides any wounds they may have.
I forgot, I also put the other chicken wire wall up the other wall that would separate the roost above and below so there were no holes to get through.. this way they could sit together but couldn't be harmed by the other hens. I also made it high enough so they couldn't jump over the wire. I think peeps would be the same as a red light. They would be great for outside where there is no red light.
I hope this gives you some ideas. good luck to you.
 
Ok, we got the peepers and put them on all the chickens except the injured one. We also put the two most aggressive chickens back in with the rest of the flock today. I have some mixed feelings. First, it seems the peepers are inhumane. I'm struggling with the plastic pins being stuck in their nostrils. They also kept trying to scratch them off. They look so uncomfortable. Please assure me these are not hurting them.

Also, we left the peepers off the injured chicken to give her a sense of dominance and also give her a break from being the one being punished. All the other chickens (5) got them on. Some interesting things took place. They started all fighting each other even with the peepers on. The injured one even started being more aggressive towards the mean ones that originally were hurting her. It is almost like she was saying "Payback is a b****!"

I thought they were not supposed to be able to see each other well enough to fight. Also, we watched them while they were in the coop in the evening and one of the chickens went and picked on the injured hen again even though she has peepers on. Are these chickens just too aggressive in general and will continue to attack each other or will they calm down once they re-establish their pecking order since the two aggressive hens were re-introduced?

Or, are they attacking each other because they don't see who they are attacking, so they just attack everybody? We are wondering what kind of can of worms we opened.
barnie.gif
 
So far the chickens are doing good. They must have just been re-establishing their pecking order earlier when I was freaking out . I'm going to try and attach some photos of the 4 who agreed to pose for the camera. The other 2 are shy. Thanks for all your help.



 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom