Mentally unstable hen?

[cheirogloss]

One of our new hens is a little barred rock. I bought her out of pity because she was being pecked bald (not by the other hens I bought). Well, so much for charity. She escaped when I tried to transfer her from the packing crate to the "isolation" cage. She has been AWOL ever since.

Here's the mentally unstable part. She circles the coop all day, but won't go in with the other ladies. I let the flock out last night and she avoided them like the plague, didn't return to the coop with them, and went back to roost in her pine tree (which is only like 10 ft from the coop).

She even took one of my BSL over to the dark side and invited it to roost with her. I retrieved the BSL from the tree with little issue, but when I went back to get the BR after dark she FREAKED. She screamed, flapped, flew out of the tree and ran screaming into the night. But she was back again this morning, circling the coop and fleeing for the hills when I came to change the water.

I have two theories:
1) She was horribly abused by a person before moving here and hates people. We can't even get close enough to give her treats. When I toss them to her, she sprints like its an air raid.

2) She was horribly abused by a chicken before moving here and wants to be near the flock, but not part of the flock for fear of future abuse. When the other ladies are out, the BR disappears and doesn't forage with them

So, my question is does anyone have pratical suggestions for even getting near this crazy little hen? Or should I just let her have her freedom and wish her God's Speed?

 

[Sunflower01]

Dont' know if this helps but here goes... We had purchased 6 Bovan pullets that were 20 weeks old and had them for 3 weeks before we went to the livestock auction and purchaed a single hen. We think the hen is a goldlaced Wayondott. Well the introduction to the Bovan girls did not go to well. We call our Bovan girls by the gang name of the Bloods. I'v had chickens before and have never had any that were so mean to newcomers. They are fine with humans. Anyway. We kept the Wayondott in with them and they chased her for about a week. Gradually over the past 3 days I have noticed that the Bloods are starting to accept her.. Mind you she kept her distance from them for about a week, she roosted by herself, ate by herself, and would only go into the coop if I distracted the Bloods with food to avoid confrontation. But yesterday she is now mingling with the others and I can tell she is much more comfortable with them. She is also larger then the Bloods, so I thought there wouldn't be a problem. With all the stress I don't expect any eggs from her anytime soon. We believe she is about 1 yr. old.

 

[fordmommy]

My BR is the outcast too. Each chicken I have is different. But during the day everything seems pretty good. She is sometimes snotting when eating greens with others. And she kinda likes to be by herself for the most part. But at night....it's war. I have 8 chickens. They roost on a 6 foot 2x6 perch. My BR is alone on one side, and they others are as far away from her as possible. When I first got them, they would all be together. But no matter who my BR was by...she would peck them HARD. And a lot. So they make her sleep on one side and the others are fine with eachother. And she likes it this way. She doesn't want ANYONE by her at night.

Crazy chicken!

 

[Grampa with chickens]

Set a live trap up to catch anything other than a chicken. I guarantee she will be in there by the end of the day.

I am constantly removing my hens from the trap. Funny part is I moved it so they couldn't get to it and still I catch one every now and then. Its like putting up a neon sign saying "ON SALE". They don't care what it is, its on sale.

 

[patandchickens]

A third theory, at *least* as likely as the first two, is that she is just basically a little bit <circles finger next to head>. Especially if she is not full BR -- and if she is little-ish, and of unknown parentage, I wonder if she might have some leghorn or other scatty-brained breed in there somewhere. I have a golden campine hen who sounds really quite similar to your hen in many ways -- but she is just like that, from her breeding, it's not from abuse or anything like that.

Yours may also be extra flighty and afraid because of being loose on her own, which would accentuate any temperament issues.

Have you tried trapping her? It would be a bit of work but if you have some time available might well be doable. Get her coming to a pile of scratch or whatever, then put it outside a dog crate (or whatever) with the door open, then put it *inside* the dog crate with the door open, then put a string so you can sit somewhere and *very rapidly* close the door with her inside. You will probably only get one chance with this, so use it wisely. As an alternative to the dog crate, do it with the run, with its outer people door open and the res tof the chickens locked in the coop (but because it may take a while to persuade her into the run for food, they could be in there for a whiiiile.)

Once she is caught she might be able to integrate with the rest of the flock. Just because she's afraid or disinclined to voluntarily wander into their midst when she's loose, does not *necessarily* mean she would not be able to cope if permanently locked in with them. Or if not, you could consider whether you want to keep her in a separate adjacent pen so she has company but not pecking.

I don't really see you have much alternative anyhow, other than just saying Oh Well and letting her live loose on her own for as long as climate and raccoon population allow. Which is also an option of course; whether you think it is is a better or worse option is totally a matter of personal choice.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[chookchick]

Her behavior doesn't seem particularly strange to me. She obviously wants to be part of the flock, but is rightly afraid of rejection (pecking to death). Roosting in the trees is common chicken behavior. It sounds like you have only recently started free-ranging? I bet that over time she will start free-ranging with them more and more until she is integrated. Hopefully she will manage to avoid predators until that time--or if you can catch her somehow. Keep us posted on her progress...

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:
I agree with this. If you catch her maybe you could put her in a small wire dog crate and put the crate in the chicken coop. Let her stay in it for a week or so to let everyone used to seeing one another. If she was being picked on in her previous home she would obviously believe that it will happen to her again.

I have one particular hen (golden campine) that is extremely loud if I'm trying to hold her. You might think I was trying to kill her. It's their protection from predators.