How to reintroduce chicken to flock?

[ethelsmom]

Ie thought I lost a chicken on the 4th, but found her 6 days later. (There was a 3 inch space behind her nesting box and she fell behind. Needless to say, we've fixed that problem) After 6 days in a hot coop with no food and water, she wasn't able to stand or walk. We put her in a dog crate in the back porch and have gotten her back to health. In the process, she has become very tame and attached to me. She will follow me around out back yard and will sit in my lap if I sit down.

We've taken her out to reintroduce her a couple times; letting the others out to free range. Each time, the resident bully has come up and started to peck at her and the others start chasing her. She acts uncomfortable and will come to stand by me. I've broken up the fight, but the others keep after her.

What should I do so that she will be accepted by the other chickens, or am I going to have a pet chicken living in my back porch for the next 10 years?

 

[hennyannie]

I had good luck once when I put my hen in a seperate pen with a roo, once they worked out their differances and became friends I added both to the flock
and had no more problems.If you dont have a roo I wonder if putting her with just one or two hens would work and adding them back later to the flock?

 

[Lola12]

Hi there! I am by no means an expert, but am going thru the same thing right now so your post caught my eye. A month ago one of my girls got out of the chicken tractor when my H didn't secure the door to the nest boxes. One of my dogs got her, but fortunately I was outside and saw what was going on and I was able to stop the attack. Her leg was injured and she's been at my parents place for the last month recuperating. Thursday we placed her in a pen next to the run, then yesterday put her back in the run with the others. (I have 6 hens total, no roos, and they can't free range because of the dogs). There was some chasing and pecking, but she went up into the coop and they didn't follow. I watched for a couple of hours solid at first, and have since checked on them frequently. They do not pursue her into the coop. The aggression has steadily gone down, and they have not wounded her at all...if they had I would have pulled her. She is staying up in the coop (there is water inside and out) and when others venture in there may be a little pecking, but it is minimal and they eat and then go back out. I watched last night at dusk when everyone came in to bed. She had been on the upper roost, but as others filtered in a couple of the higher order girls bullied her a little and she moved to the lower roost. She stayed on the lower roost for the night, with the other 5 on the other roost. This morning she stood in line at the favorite nest box (there are 4, but they all use 1)...she got pecked a little, but stood her ground and all 6 laid in the box. Today she went out a few times....some aggression, but minimal...but has spent most of the day in the coop alone. I will continue to monitor and see what happens at dusk tonight. My feeling is, as long as aggression seems minimal, and especially if there is no wounding going on, they just need time to reestablish the pecking order. Like I said, I am no expert, and hope others come along with other ideas...just wanted to let you know what my experience has been so far. Good luck with your girl!!
Daphne