Is this normal?

[cruisnmoma]

We have 6 girls. they are all reds, and have had them almost 2 yrs. we got them at the same time. They have all lived together with no issues until 1 of the girls got hurt by a dog. She spend a week at the vet, then a few weeks in side my hubbys office. As she got stronger, we started to let her out in a closed off area of the yard. They could all still see each other, but they could not hurt her.She is for the most part healed, but still not at full feathers. We are having a really hard time getting her back into the group. There are 2 that are very nasty to her, and the other 3 don't really mind her being around. We tried to keep the mean 2 in the closed off area, and let her be with the others. We have tried to have her back in the coop without the mean girls. but she is very scared and just wants to live in the office and in her small yard. They will not let her on the perch, even if she makes sure to get on it first. When they all come in the force her down and she sleeps in one of the nests. During the day she will kinda follow the others at a distance, but most of the time she tries to hide or just get back into her lil yard. Is it too soon, or are we just not giving her enough time to work it out. Hubby let her back in her area and she is sleeping alone again in the small coop. He wants to wait till she looks fluffy again.

 

[PolkaDot77]

Could you bring the nicest or one of the nicer ones to "her" area? If you could get those 2 closer, you might have more success integrating her later as she'll have another chicken in her corner. Then maybe you could re-introduce the 2 to the other nice ones and then finally the 2 more aggressive girls. I'm sure it will take time no matter what, but don't give up!

Also, I know this sounds really silly, but we use this stuff called Stress Stopper that is made by Jackson Galaxy (that cat behaviorist that has the tv show) in our chickens water or even spray it directly on them when they are stressed (predator sightings, new introductions, death in the coop, etc) and it works great! We originally got it for our 2 cats that weren't getting along and then noticed it works on chickens too! Good luck to you! I'm glad she survived the dog attack. She sounds like she has a strong spirit.