HELP. My injured hen is being attacked during reintroduction to flock.

[Pureupto99per]

Back story:
A few nights ago I was woken up to my 6 hen flock (two Delawares, two Barred Rock, two Red Laced Blue Wyandottes) going crazy in our large sideyard. There was an opossum in the yard that had just attacked one of them (a Delaware) and she (the hen) was limping. I killed the opossum with a pitchfork and started assessing the wounds of my injured hen. She had a one inch gash in her thigh so I stitched it up using some nylon quilting thread and tucked her into some towels for the night. The next day, at about noon she came out of the towels and started walking/limping around the small backyard, eating, and drinking... She spent another night in the towels in the small yard away from her flockmates.

Today:
Seeing as how she's doing (mostly) alright (she's still limping and babying her soar leg) I decided to take her into the big sideyard for her flockmates to see her and for her to see them for a little bit. As soon as I put her down one of my wyandottes puffed up and started attacking her. WTH?! I picked my Delaware up and shooed the Wyandotte off, as soon as I put her down again the Wyandotte came rushing over and tried to attack her again... violently.

Do I need to wait until my hen is fully healed before letting her back into the flock so they dont see her as weak?
Did they forget her already and think she's a threat?
What the heck can I do to stop this behavior?

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
-Tabitha

 

[Coles FreshEggs]

Here is how I introduce hens into my flock. I put the injured/new hen into a room/pen by itself, and take one hen from the main flock and put them together. I make them stay together a day, and depending on the size of your flock, (I do it up to 10 birds-per 100) I would say adding two hens from the main flock would be great! But this way, there is less fighting, and it gives her some teammates. Also, make sure tha when you reintroduce her, you provide plenty of stuff for the hens to do. Whether its scratch, hay, or whatever, keep them busy to get their mind of pecking at the gash! Hope I helped!