How to get hen back with flock

[thepick4uchicks]

I decided to check on them last night. I see her in the corner on the perch with droopy tail and looks like blood on her comb. I move to the door that we go in and out of and opened it. Penny is right there and I can see her wounds better. She’s got some scratches some of them a little bloody and a little swollen. So I catch her which wasn’t very hard and put her back in her a-frame. She looks a little better this morning and I rinsed her face with water. I looked out the window quite a few times yesterday and didn’t see any fighting. My guess it was the same hen who attacked Penny yesterday morning.

Aw! I’m so sorry!

 

[FunQuail]

Aw! I’m so sorry!

Thank you. I don’t like her getting hurt every time trying to introduce her back to the flock. I’m getting closer to just giving up and continue taking care of Penny where she is at. I don’t know what I’m going to do this winter though.
Thank you for all your help everyone!
Kelly

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I decided to check on them last night. I see her in the corner on the perch with droopy tail and looks like blood on her comb. I move to the door that we go in and out of and opened it. Penny is right there and I can see her wounds better. She’s got some scratches some of them a little bloody and a little swollen. So I catch her which wasn’t very hard and put her back in her a-frame. She looks a little better this morning and I rinsed her face with water. I looked out the window quite a few times yesterday and didn’t see any fighting. My guess it was the same hen who attacked Penny yesterday morning.

I had to think about this for a few minutes. I am at the dentist getting fillings done I am afraid. I for some reason can’t seem to get numbed up today. I’m on the third shot. I do so hate that this poor Penny has been attacked so many times by this mean old hen. I think you are going to have to chose between her or Penny or keep them separate. If you get good eggs or chicks out of the mean old bitty then you might try keeping her separate for awhile to see if that works. Then reintroduce her if you think it is worth a try for Penny’s life being a risk a third time- she the old hen needs to be worth it. Or you could cull her if you are sure she is the culprit and if she is not a good producer for you and is a fighter then you don’t want much of that. I have a feather picker right now in one of my Legbars due to them being to cooped up I think waiting on their coop construction to be completed and the heat was so bad. I don’t want to cull her but I may have to. These are my very first chicks and it will break my heart. I know what you are facing. I hope Penny heals up fast. Best of luck with your decisions.

 

[getaclue]

When you say she's in her A frame, is it in the coop with the others, so they can see her, get near her, without actually being able to get to her to hurt her? A dog crate, or sectioning off an area with chicken wire works good for this. After several days, let her loose with them, while you are standing far enough to observe, but close enough to intervene.

There WILL be a bit of fighting. It's called pecking order. Allow it to go on for a minute, as each hen challenges her, shoo them, after a minute, BUT break it up immediately if there is blood drawn. Try it again later that day, OR the next day. Pay attention. Often, if there is a problem, it will be with only 1 or 2 of the top hens. Grab the bully (or two), and put them in the cage, or partitioned area for about 4 days, then reintroduce them. IF the bully(ies) have not settled down some, put them back in isolation for a couple more days. Rinse, repeat.

Isolating the bully(ies), breaks up the dynamics, and when repeated isolation is needed, they figure out that the bullying will land them in isolation.

 

[FunQuail]

I had to think about this for a few minutes. I am at the dentist getting fillings done I am afraid. I for some reason can’t seem to get numbed up today. I’m on the third shot. I do so hate that this poor Penny has been attacked so many times by this mean old hen. I think you are going to have to chose between her or Penny or keep them separate. If you get good eggs or chicks out of the mean old bitty then you might try keeping her separate for awhile to see if that works. Then reintroduce her if you think it is worth a try for Penny’s life being a risk a third time- she the old hen needs to be worth it. Or you could cull her if you are sure she is the culprit and if she is not a good producer for you and is a fighter then you don’t want much of that. I have a feather picker right now in one of my Legbars due to them being to cooped up I think waiting on their coop construction to be completed and the heat was so bad. I don’t want to cull her but I may have to. These are my very first chicks and it will break my heart. I know what you are facing. I hope Penny heals up fast. Best of luck with your decisions.

I’ve bonded with Penny. She is far less afraid of me than any of the other chickens. Her wounds were pretty bad. Our dog took the skin off her side. You could see her muscle fat etc from the top of her leg to at least 3 inches towards her head, and 3 inches wide. I didn’t want to kill her but we were worried about suffering. So what I called ICU an old sliver chicken tractor I sprayed her every day with iodine spray twice a day for the first week and a half then once a day then every other day. She didn’t like it very much but I was the one always there and feeding her and watering her. I was her flock, still pretty much am, for months. So it makes me mad that this one hen won’t just except Penny. And to see her getting hurt makes me mad and sad. And she wants to be with them so badly. I don’t want to kill mean hen and I probably won’t. It’ll take time but I’m letting Penny heal again before trying something else. I haven’t totally given up on the idea of getting her back in but I don’t want her to get hurt again and again and again, that’s not worth it to me. Yeah I might try to separate the mean hen and get Penny integrated with the rest of the flock, after she heals. Oh I forgot to mention mean hen is the only one with a few scratches on her face. If Penny fought with any of the others it wasn’t nearly as brutal.
Good luck with the dentist! Hope it goes well!

 

[FunQuail]

When you say she's in her A frame, is it in the coop with the others, so they can see her, get near her, without actually being able to get to her to hurt her? A dog crate, or sectioning off an area with chicken wire works good for this. After several days, let her loose with them, while you are standing far enough to observe, but close enough to intervene.

There WILL be a bit of fighting. It's called pecking order. Allow it to go on for a minute, as each hen challenges her, shoo them, after a minute, BUT break it up immediately if there is blood drawn. Try it again later that day, OR the next day. Pay attention. Often, if there is a problem, it will be with only 1 or 2 of the top hens. Grab the bully (or two), and put them in the cage, or partitioned area for about 4 days, then reintroduce them. IF the bully(ies) have not settled down some, put them back in isolation for a couple more days. Rinse, repeat.

Isolating the bully(ies), breaks up the dynamics, and when repeated isolation is needed, they figure out that the bullying will land them in isolation.

I do know about pecking order. Everything on earth has a pecking order. And I do realize there will be fighting.
The A-frame is two cattle panels put together with chicken wire on both ends. They are ALL in an electric fence with the 5 hens using the coop and Penny in the A-frame. Yes they can see each other and touch each other without hurting each other. I was there when they woke up August 2nd so I could break up any fights and I did. I checked on them and they seemed fine. Mean Hen and Penny fought later in the evening most likely.
Thank you for the tips,
Kelly

 

[NatJ]

You could try putting Mean Hen in the A-frame, and see how Penny does with the others.

If that goes well, you could then decide whether to re-add Mean Hen later, when she's been out of the group for a bit and might have settled down, or whether to make her into chicken soup.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I’ve bonded with Penny. She is far less afraid of me than any of the other chickens. Her wounds were pretty bad. Our dog took the skin off her side. You could see her muscle fat etc from the top of her leg to at least 3 inches towards her head, and 3 inches wide. I didn’t want to kill her but we were worried about suffering. So what I called ICU an old sliver chicken tractor I sprayed her every day with iodine spray twice a day for the first week and a half then once a day then every other day. She didn’t like it very much but I was the one always there and feeding her and watering her. I was her flock, still pretty much am, for months. So it makes me mad that this one hen won’t just except Penny. And to see her getting hurt makes me mad and sad. And she wants to be with them so badly. I don’t want to kill mean hen and I probably won’t. It’ll take time but I’m letting Penny heal again before trying something else. I haven’t totally given up on the idea of getting her back in but I don’t want her to get hurt again and again and again, that’s not worth it to me. Yeah I might try to separate the mean hen and get Penny integrated with the rest of the flock, after she heals. Oh I forgot to mention mean hen is the only one with a few scratches on her face. If Penny fought with any of the others it wasn’t nearly as brutal.
Good luck with the dentist! Hope it goes well!

Thank you. The worst part at the dentist wasn’t the work it took ten whole minutes for the fillings but the injections finally and over an hour to get my mouth numb today. He finally had to do a reroute the third time. I just wasn’t responding for some reason. Anyway. Is Penny a young one compared to your other one who is picking on her?

 

[FunQuail]

You could try putting Mean Hen in the A-frame, and see how Penny does with the others.

If that goes well, you could then decide whether to re-add Mean Hen later, when she's been out of the group for a bit and might have settled down, or whether to make her into chicken soup.

Thank you! Yes after Penny heals I think that will be the next step. Separate Mean Hen from the flock

Thank you. The worst part at the dentist wasn’t the work it took ten whole minutes for the fillings but the injections finally and over an hour to get my mouth numb today. He finally had to do a reroute the third time. I just wasn’t responding for some reason. Anyway. Is Penny a young one compared to your other one who is picking on her?

Oh sorry about the dentist!
No they are all the same age. I think they’re around 6 years old.
Thank you for all your responses everyone!
Kelly

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Thank you! Yes after Penny heals I think that will be the next step. Separate Mean Hen from the flock


Oh sorry about the dentist!
No they are all the same age. I think they’re around 6 years old.
Thank you for all your responses everyone!
Kelly

Well their laying time is probably going to soon begin to stop within a few years if they have not begun to slow down I would think noticeably yet then I think that most likely they will do so very soon. Who knows you may not have to make the decision. God -Mother Nature May cull mean hen for you due to age or reproductive failure. Rooster?