Help! one of my chickens is getting picked on :(

[Lou Stevens]

Hi all,
A little while ago I noticed my australorpe (Rosaline) chicken was 'the favourite' of my rooster, so I re-homed him. I left it for a bit so my three girls could get use to him being gone.

So last weekend I adopted two ex battery Isa Brown chooks to add to the family. I introduced them during the evening so they could wake up together. I watched them in the morning and besides a few pecks here and there, and chasing away from food...they seemed to be OK. Elsa is my Light Sussex and she is the biggest of the girls and she is the boss, the Isa Browns know to keep their distance but what I found tonight (I check them each night to make sure everyone is OK) is Rosaline my australorpe who has always been part of the group (but was always at the bottom of the pecking order) badly attacked on her back. I found her under the nesting box and when I got her out I saw this gaping wound on her back.

I have cleaned it and covered it up and I have her separated from the other girls until the wound is healed. I have a saddle coming this week so once it's healed, I will put that on her to stop any further attacks.

I know this is probably due to the new additions to the group, and I'm thinking it might be Elsa attacking her. But why would she be attacking Rosaline who has always been in the group (and the bottom of the pack)? I will watch the others tomorrow to see what's going on, but when I'm there, the Isa Browns don't mingle much with the others, but keep to themselves, hence why I think it might be Elsa. What would you recommend to help to 'restore the balance' to my coop? I heard it can take chickens a week or so to get a pecking order in place, but I don't want them (or my sweet Rosaline) to get injured further.

 

[Pork Pie]

A saddle will not stop attacks - thats treating a symptom, rather than the root cause. There are lots of variables that come into play when integrating new flock members - breeds, size, age, coop size, run size, the number of food stations, the speed at which integration is done - the list goes on. Here's a few links on integration that may help you. I'd suggest that you remove the new hens and assume that they have never been put with your existing flock when implementing a strategy that suits you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock (this may be useful when returning your injured bird to the flock)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1015820/reintegration-by-supervised-visits#post_15742910

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method