Hen being mean to chick.

[azygous]

Do you have a pet crate the chick can be comfortable in? You could place the chick in such a crate in the run until it gets a little larger and develops self confidence. By self confidence I mean that the chick will not be so afraid of the adults that it gives up trying to evade them and instead offers itself up to abuse without trying to protect itself. Often a safe enclosure while the chick and the adult flock are getting used to one another will be enough to achieve successful integration.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Do you have a pet crate the chick can be comfortable in? You could place the chick in such a crate in the run until it gets a little larger and develops self confidence. By self confidence I mean that the chick will not be so afraid of the adults that it gives up trying to evade them and instead offers itself up to abuse without trying to protect itself. Often a safe enclosure while the chick and the adult flock are getting used to one another will be enough to achieve successful integration.

I put a dog crate in the run I just haven’t put her in it yet. The only thing is there are holes in the bottom of the crate and I don’t want her feet to get stuck.

 

[microchick]

Cut a piece of cardboard and put it in the bottom with wood chips on top of it. She will do fine. I was going to ask if you have a dog crate you could use.

My birds were over two months old when I integrated them to the flock. Egyptian Fayoumis. Most of my birds are medium sized. Left a 4 inch sized slit between a chicken wire panel and the wall and stood back and watched. They would squeeze out, run around and when the others got too 'peckish' with them they would zip back into their safe zone to hang out and chill. I even set up a roost bar in their safe zone and they preferred roosting there for a couple of weeks instead of with the regular flock. I had to take down the safe zone finally to get them to move to the regular roosts. No injuries. No stress involved.

First time I tried this method to integrate and it worked great for me. I agree, depends on the size of the youngsters you are trying to integrate but if you can make it work, the system does work.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Tell me how this set up looks.
For the run I put in a small to medium sized dog crate where she has her food and water and is protected. The reason I am not going to integrate her right this second is because I think she either sprained bruised or broke her wing during the raccoon attack. So I do want her to be safe. The other picture is of what I’ve done in the coop. I put in a plastic bin with mesh over with her food and water that she can sleep in. I want her to sleep in the big girls coop today since it is all predator proofed and I would feel safer with her having some buddies during the night.

 

[azygous]

That should work!

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

That should work!

I just feel like the dog crate is so small! It’s just temporary though.

 

[microchick]

Agreed. Good job.

 

[azygous]

It appears adequate for the brief length of time the chick will need it.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

You might be able to find her a friend of a similar age by looking at Facebook groups for your area. I think it is so important for her to have a friend!

 

[azygous]

Beware of getting a chicken off Craig's List or Facebook or chicken meets. It's a good way to import an avian virus into your flock.