Help!!!!

[emmybearjr]

my hen who got attacked 2 weeks ago is ready to go back with the other hens so we put her in at night and she is very scared of the other hens and the other hens keep on hurting her and there is no blood or anything on the attacked area and I need her to go back with the others what should I do? ps there is no rooster just hens

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Are her wounds healed? I think you should take a slower approach to reintroducing her. Maybe you could section off a piece of the coop so they can see each other without touching for a while. Or if you have a specific bully you can pull her out for a few days. That will knock her down a few pegs on the totem pole.

How much room do they have in the coop and run? Do they ever free range?

 

[emmybearjr]

yes the wounds are heal, and the one that got attacked is an Easter egger and she sometimes attack them back, but she is petrified of the others. They are free range once a day and when they are free range the Easter egger runs back to me and runs away from the other hens

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I would take it very, very slow. Sounds like she needs to build her confidence back up. I've read about others having the same issues with a hen that is attacked.

 

[aart]

Basically you are dealing with the integration of one chicken into a flock...the hardest integration.
They flock does not 'remember' her, so she is an intruder and a threat to their territory and resources(food and water).



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock