Introducing new hen, and helping out another!!

[sammi77]

Evening all. (Well irt is in the UK, Lol)

I have just aquired a hen who is about 8 months old.
I already have four hens, in which I have a very aggressive hen (Ivy aka ASBO) who is about 16 months. My other hens are 3 years and Holly who is 18/20 months.
Holly has a real bad time still after over a year where the aggressive one pecks her and raises her feet to her, then the older two hens join in. This doesnt happen all day as Holly avoids the main culprit, but when it does it's really not nice.
Holly has been ill recently, and fingers crossed we hope shes on the road to recovery once her energy is built up.

I suppose my question is, is there anything I can do to help Holly be accepted all the time within the flock, and what is the best way to introduce Isobel, the new one?
And also, is there anything to feed her so I can build up Hollys strength so that she stands a chance against the bullies?

I love all my girls so would really not want to get rid of any.

Hope someone can help

 

[KDailey]

I don't have any experiance with meanies yet as my chicks are just a week old but I've read on several other threads over time that it usually helps if you seperate the main bully for a few days until the remaining chickens can re-establish the pecking order. Then when the bully comes back it makes her the new chicken and she'll have to regain her reputation. It usually helps bring them down a notch though. So hopefully Holly would be able to gain some status with the mean chicken gone.