Hen Isolating Herself from Flock After Reintroduction s/p Dog Bite Injury

[SeaToSkyFarm]

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are new to this community and new to caring for chickens since May 2021. We are hoping you can help us with a recent issue we have with one of our hens.

A dog attacked one of our Brahma hens in early December and exposed her backside through the skin/subcutaneous tissue without any obvious muscular penetration. I irrigate the wound multiple times with chlorhexidine, sprayed it with BluKote multiple times, and used Vetericyn Plus for the remainder. She received a 5-day course of IM pencillin, as well. The wound itself is healing nicely but still with a ~8x6cm scabbed area with nice tissue regeneration and no further tissue necrosis. We isolated the hen in the house for ~10 days while it was healing/scabbing over and she perked up nicely. Towards the end of that 10-day period, we brought her outside for reintroductions to the flock and that is currently where we are having issues. Initially, the two roosters picked on her (but didn't draw blood) so I isolated them for a few days while she was out (then she came into the house with us at night). Now, one of the roosters seems to protect her but the other one is still picking on her a little bit when she's out with everyone. In the last 3-4 days, we've also noticed that another olive egger hen has started to peck her (this olive egger also seems to be pecked since she has some feathers missing on her back). During the last 3 nights, we have reintroduced the Brahma hen into the coop at night and that seems to be going well.

However, during the days when the flock is all out together, we've noticed that she tends to isolate herself. Initially, she was doing this for a couple of hours and then seemed to interact with some members of the flock for awhile. Now, over the past couple of days, we've noticed that she spends pretty much the entire day isolated from the flock. If she sees the flock, she will often run the other direction and hide. She does interact well with some of our Ameraucanas and Speckled Sussex hens if they find her - she tends to run mainly when she sees the olive egger and the particular rooster that picks on her. If she sees us, she will walk up to us and wants to be picked-up (but I try not to do that, especially if the flock is around). I bring her food/water when the flock isn't there and she seems to be eating/drinking well.

We're not really sure what we can do to help her. Do we just let her isolate herself and let her figure it out herself? Do I try to encourage her to be with the rest of the flock? Do I bring some of the hens she gets along with to the areas where she isolates herself to encourage interactions? Do I isolate the problematic rooster and olive egger?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[sourland]

Do you need 2 roosters in your flock. My move would be to rehome the rooster that is abusing her.

 

[SeaToSkyFarm]

Do you need 2 roosters in your flock. My move would be to rehome the rooster that is abusing her.

Good question - I can describe the flock more and answer that. We have 9 total chickens with 2 roosters and 7 hens. We only ordered one rooster but they gave us another by mistake. I know this isn't ideal since I've read to have 10-15 hens per rooster but the two roosters generally get along well with everybody. One rooster (not the one irritating the Brahma) seems to be more in charge (e.g. he will run and kick off the other rooster if it's mounting a hen). We plan on getting more chicks in the future to hopefully help with the rooster/hen ratio.

Regarding getting rid of the problematic rooster, I know that is an option but we ideally don't want to get rid of any of our chickens if we don't have to. We enjoy all their personalities and they generally used to get along well.

To be honest, the olive egger is more of the issue. We had all the chickens in the hallway of our barn closed in today while we were moving some horses, and here's what happened: the rooster pecked the Brahma on her head once but then seemed to leave her alone. The Brahma was lying flat with her head completely down as if in a majorly submissive position. The olive egger then came over and pecked the Brahma on the back (around the scab area), neck, and once on the comb. The Brahma was still in the submissive position and wasn't fighting back at all. The Brahma then got up and ran over to me for protection. I wasn't sure what to do so I put the olive egger and rooster in a stall to isolate them (the rooster mounted the olive egger once and then they seemed to get along) and the Brahma then felt more comfortable. She pecked a Speckled Sussex on the comb once, as well. They have been isolated like this for a couple hours and the Brahma seems to be enjoying some time with the other hens and other rooster, although she does still seem to go in the corner to keep her distance every now and then.

I'm not sure if we should keep it like this for a few days or do something else. I was thinking of having them all together in the coop overnight (unless I should separate them all day/night for a few days).

 

[SeaToSkyFarm]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to provide an update and ask for any recommendations. We had some snow here so the chickens stayed in the coop for a few days of their own volition. The Brahma seemed okay with that - she just avoided the particular rooster and the olive egger. I was hoping that this would have been a good bonding experience for the Brahma and that she would be more accepted by the flock once they left the coop. However, it is still the same scenario when they are free ranging. The Brahma will either leave the coop but run to her own spot and generally hide from everyone else all day (but still seems cheerful to see us, is still eating and drinking fine, her wound is healing great) OR will linger in the coop for awhile after everyone else leaves it in the morning. When they all get together, the olive egger still sometimes runs at/pecks the Brahma but that seems a bit better. The Brahma seems a little better around the one rooster that was previously bothering her.

What should I do to the Brahma to help her reintegrate into the flock? I feel bad that she spends her day by herself - she really is sweet! @Eggcessive Thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I had a hen attacked by a sparrowhawk at the end of last November. She stayed inside with us for about one month, until her wound was fully healed and the new feathers started to grow.

However, from the 4th week, we put a mobile cage inside the run. She stayed inside but could still interact with the flock during the day. The cage provided a basic protection, so the rooster or other hens could not really bother her.

Her sisters were always keen to "steal" her food - so we gave her a lot for "sharing".

After sunset, she came back to sleep inside the house. Next morning, she joined the flock (in the cage) again.

And gradually we let her leave the cage and stay with the flock, starting from few minutes. As other hens were quite used to her (in the cage), there was not much troubles besides one specific girl.

Besides staying away from that girl, our injured hen immediately showed the strong motivation to gain her position back - she started to peck much younger pullets.

After one more week, we were sure that she could take good care of herself, then we removed the mobile cage. The only thing changed was the rooster. We removed him to the rooster pen to stay with his two brothers. This is to ensure no mating-relating trouble would be caused to the injured hen (especially the neck area was still too fragile).

 

[SeaToSkyFarm]

I had a hen attacked by a sparrowhawk at the end of last November. She stayed inside with us for about one month, until her wound was fully healed and the new feathers started to grow.
View attachment 2968658
View attachment 2968659
However, from the 4th week, we put a mobile cage inside the run. She stayed inside but could still interact with the flock during the day. The cage provided a basic protection, so the rooster or other hens could not really bother her.
View attachment 2968663
Her sisters were always keen to "steal" her food - so we gave her a lot for "sharing".
View attachment 2968671

View attachment 2968673

After sunset, she came back to sleep inside the house. Next morning, she joined the flock (in the cage) again.
View attachment 2968676
And gradually we let her leave the cage and stay with the flock, starting from few minutes. As other hens were quite used to her (in the cage), there was not much troubles besides one specific girl.

Besides staying away from that girl, our injured hen immediately showed the strong motivation to gain her position back - she started to peck much younger pullets.

After one more week, we were sure that she could take good care of herself, then we removed the mobile cage. The only thing changed was the rooster. We removed him to the rooster pen to stay with his two brothers. This is to ensure no mating-relating trouble would be caused to the injured hen (especially the neck area was still too fragile).

Interesting - thanks for sharing! I'm glad that worked for you!

Our hen has been outside with the other hens/roosters and continues to choose to isolate herself (currently she prefers to stay in the coop while everyone else runs around the barn). I'm not sure if forcing her to be in a pen next to the others would help desensitize the flock to her more - it's worth considering it. The problem is that our flock free ranges so it may be hard to keep her near them.

Any other thoughts? @Eggcessive @azygous

 

[cackleberryandco]

Hey! Just stumbled upon this thread. Has anything improved yet?

 

[SeaToSkyFarm]

Hey! Just stumbled upon this thread. Has anything improved yet?

Not yet. It seems like one particular rooster (of the two) and the olive egger still seem to peck her when they see her. I see her pecking a speckled Sussex and sometimes an Ameraucana, particularly when they are going into the coop/roosting at dusk.

Her main issue is that she continues to isolate herself when she's outside. The entire flock will be out digging in the garden or in the pastures, and she will stay behind in a corner of the barn or hide in a wheelbarrow, presumably because she's afraid of the flock (or, more likely, specific members of the flock). When I isolated the problematic rooster and the olive egger for a day, it seemed a little better and I say her sometimes go outside to scratch for food. However, she still stayed most of the day by herself. Perhaps I should try this method for longer?

This is all complicated by the fact that I noticed she had a large abscess of her right leg within the past week. I'm not entirely sure if this was from her original attack that went unnoticed/under-treated, or if this was a new injury. It may be that some of the chickens are picking on her because they knew she was infected/fighting an infection. Anyway, I had to incise & drain the abscess a few days ago with 30-40mL of expressed purulent drainage with a definitive ~4mm rind. There was no obvious involvement of the knee joint/patella or any ligaments, although I haven't fully removed the inferior aspect of the rind yet during my daily chlorhexidine syringe irrigations, and I've been coating the area with BluKote for antimicrobial effect with 1-2x/day of triple antibiotic ointment after it's air-dried for a bit. She's still chipper and eating/walking well, but she's had to stay inside with us for the last 4 days while she's healing.

Any thoughts you have are welcome! We are considering re-homing the problematic rooster to see if that improves things, especially since our flock is so small (and it was an accident that we even ended up with 2 roosters in the first place).

 

[cackleberryandco]

Not yet. It seems like one particular rooster (of the two) and the olive egger still seem to peck her when they see her. I see her pecking a speckled Sussex and sometimes an Ameraucana, particularly when they are going into the coop/roosting at dusk.

Her main issue is that she continues to isolate herself when she's outside. The entire flock will be out digging in the garden or in the pastures, and she will stay behind in a corner of the barn or hide in a wheelbarrow, presumably because she's afraid of the flock (or, more likely, specific members of the flock). When I isolated the problematic rooster and the olive egger for a day, it seemed a little better and I say her sometimes go outside to scratch for food. However, she still stayed most of the day by herself. Perhaps I should try this method for longer?

This is all complicated by the fact that I noticed she had a large abscess of her right leg within the past week. I'm not entirely sure if this was from her original attack that went unnoticed/under-treated, or if this was a new injury. It may be that some of the chickens are picking on her because they knew she was infected/fighting an infection. Anyway, I had to incise & drain the abscess a few days ago with 30-40mL of expressed purulent drainage with a definitive ~4mm rind. There was no obvious involvement of the knee joint/patella or any ligaments, although I haven't fully removed the inferior aspect of the rind yet during my daily chlorhexidine syringe irrigations, and I've been coating the area with BluKote for antimicrobial effect with 1-2x/day of triple antibiotic ointment after it's air-dried for a bit. She's still chipper and eating/walking well, but she's had to stay inside with us for the last 4 days while she's healing.

Any thoughts you have are welcome! We are considering re-homing the problematic rooster to see if that improves things, especially since our flock is so small (and it was an accident that we even ended up with 2 roosters in the first place).

I am not sure whether you see your chickens as pets or not, but if it is the former I assume you do not want to re-home unless it is necessary. I have a speckled Sussex who came down with sour crop back in September and was living in our house for ~2 months. When she cam back outside, she was harassed by everyone (I have a flock of 7 including 2 bantams, all hens) and so we started keeping her inside a crate inside the run so she could interact with the others without the worry of being physically harmed. This may be difficult for you, however, if your flock free ranges. We kept her inside the crate overnight as well, however this will prove difficult if it is cold outside where you're located (It was roughly mid-late October when my girl was being reintroduced so much milder weather). Even now that she has fully recovered and grown a bit, she still gets bullied and pecked at occasionally, specifically by my Wyandotte who happens to be the largest hen in the flock. It honestly may just be that your hen is low in the pecking order, whether it was caused by the injury or not. My Sussex is very shy and keeps to herself now.. it makes me feel a little bad, especially because she used to have such a big personality, but she is unharmed physically and I try to give her a little bit of extra attention & love to make up for it.

Back to my original point... if it hasn't ended by now, it might not. The injured leg might contribute to it but you never know. I would definitely recommend isolating the two bullies a little longer to see if your hen perks up, and if you do see improvements, you can decide if re-homing is something you want to do. If nothing changes, she might just be a shy hen. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide if you want to give up two of your chickens or if you want to have a chicken who is just a little bit more submissive than normal. As long as she isn't being severely harmed, this is a pretty flexible choice for you to make. Make sure she is getting ample food and water as well... sometimes I see my Wyandotte chase my Sussex away from food and I have to feed her separately on those bad days. It's really up to your hen's quality of life and how you would describe your relationship with your chickens. I hope I gave some helpful input, I wish you the best of luck