
Here's a link to a good article written by another member's experience integrating a single bird to the flock:
reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock.69359
Hope all the tips from other greeters and links help you out. Best of luck to you!
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Thank you for your warm welcome. My hen is in a large dog crate in my basement. Next weekend the temperature is supposed to rise to the mid 40s and I was planning on moving the dog crate into the coop for her. My coop is 8 feet wide by 12 feet long, so there is room. I also have heat lamps in the coop for those really cold nights when it gets into single digits and a heated waterer. I pray this will work, she is so lonely for her own kind, she makes a crying sound wherever we leave her alone and go upstairs.Hello and welcome to BYC!Glad you joined.
You'll have to start slowly reintegrating your injured girl back into the flock. If it is cold and she has become accustomed to the heated basement, you may want to wait until the weather breaks. You will need to use the "look don't touch" start with her for about a week before allowing her to intermingle with the flock.
I'm glad you got rid of the rooster that hurt her.
No I got rid of my rooster. He was good to my husband and I but always tended to pick on a smaller barred rock hen and because of it she tended to be a loner and not hang with the others. She was attacked and killed by a hawk last fall. This hen was also a Barred rock, but she was larger than the other hen. He apparently did not like the barred rock hens. I think after his attack the hens ganged up on her too. She was missing a lot of feathers on the back of her neck and head. She was so weak she couldn't stand up for 4 days later and was dehydrated. I force fed her water and food. She developed an infection from her wounds and I ended up taking her to the vet for antibiotics. She has been in my basement now for 4 weeks. She has fully recovered and is ready to join the flock again!Welcome to BYC. Is the rooster still in the flock ?
I tried putting her in the coop with the other 7 hens and I watched them. All 7 at different times took their turn at trying to attack her. She ended up cowering in the corner of the coop. I stepped put of the coop and watched through the window, they continued their attack. I couldn't take watching it anymore and brought her back inside. I thought she was ready to go back but now after being back inside for 2 more weeks, she has improved even more to the point where she started laying again after a month of no eggs.Thank you for joining us at Backyard Chickens. Do all your other hens attack her just one or two? If it's the later - confine the 2 meanies to separate crates and let them chill.
While doing so you can try to integrate your hen while keeping an eye on the rest.
You could throw out some treats in a wide area so they won't all congregate in the same place. If they are all gobbling treats they may not pay any attention to her.
In fact if you have more treats in a can and shake it, they may all follow you around including the lonely girl. You might throw some more treats, a bit here, a bit there, and so on so they don't have time to think about her.
When you leave the area, hang around somewhere to see if they leave her alone. If so let them be. I would wait for a couple of days - while doing this, to see how things proceed.
Only then would I suggest having her sleep in the coop with them.
Isolation can be torture for a lone chicken. Why not put her in the coop now? The temperature doesn't matter as much as you think it does... feathers offer great insulation and as long as your coop doesn't have drafts blowing through she should be fine. The other hens are fine out in the coop right? The sooner you start the integration the better because it's likely going to take a few more weeks of "see but don't touch" inside her crate before she can actually be loose with the others. And it's going to take a lot of work and patience on your part to help her.Thank you for your warm welcome. My hen is in a large dog crate in my basement. Next weekend the temperature is supposed to rise to the mid 40s and I was planning on moving the dog crate into the coop for her. My coop is 8 feet wide by 12 feet long, so there is room. I also have heat lamps in the coop for those really cold nights when it gets into single digits and a heated waterer. I pray this will work, she is so lonely for her own kind, she makes a crying sound wherever we leave her alone and go upstairs.