How to Reintroduce an injured 12wk to flock?????

[Malynda]

Hi all!

Ive combed over the threads trying to find the best way to reintroduce my 12wk old to my flock.

Background info...I have an established small flock of 5 RIR's and back in the end of February I got 6 more chicks (2 barred rocks, 2 sapphire gems & 2 buff orphingtons). The coop is a 10x10 converted shed with a 10x10 covered run. I took part of the coop and turned it into a brooder until the chicks got big enough to join the big girls. I gradually introduced by the look no touch method and then opened a small opening for the chicks to run and out of. I made this opening 2 wks ago. Since things seemed to be going well I opened up the coop, put in a larger roosting area, made two feeding stations and water as well.

Yesterday I went out to give their nightly feed and noticed one of my barred rocks had a 3x2 bloodied area on her back where her feathers had been picked off as well as a couple of red spots on her head. I brought her in and cleaned her up and she spent the night in the house since she looked pretty traumatized. This morning she was eating and drinking and moving around so Im sure she will be fine. I plan on putting some blue kote on the affected area but I wanted to make sure she was ok.

My question is...how long should I keep her out and how is the best way to reintroduce her back to the flock? Ive checked the other birds and they are fine so Im thinking I have a bully with one of the Reds and this little barred rock is singled out as the weakest.

Thanks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you set up her isolation/recovery pen inside the coop or run? That way you at least won't have to worry about reintegrating her. I'd let her back out once the picked on spots didn't look too raw or red, and then watch how things go.

 

[Malynda]

Can you set up her isolation/recovery pen inside the coop or run? That way you at least won't have to worry about reintegrating her. I'd let her back out once the picked on spots didn't look too raw or red, and then watch how things go.

Sorry for taking so long getting back to you I am still recovering from being in the hospital. What I ended up doing was bring her in the house for a couple of days to give her some rest and monitor her picked on areas and then I sprayed Blue Kote on her and did a night introduction thankfully it went Great so so far so good. I banded all of my RIR's to see which one is being a bully and so far I've narrowed it down to two of the girls. The one that was picked on is doing great and eating and running around like normal so hoping !!!

 

[JustSarahThanks]

Popping on here to hopefully revive this thread to see if anyone else wants to weigh in—I am likely going to need to figure this out with my own flock and I am curious how more experienced folks handle this situation.