My hen went to live with other hens but now has to come home!

[lescostes]

I posted last week about me loosing a hen and my roo to a fox and so we decided to give our other hen away (she's a naked neck). My friend has 4 hens (not sure of their age but just started laying) and she has only had them for 3 weeks. We took her over on Saturday and everything was great, Sat. night they all slept together in the coop, no problems. But then sunday afternoon things started to change. My hen started being very aggressive with the other hens, not letting them eat or drink or even go in the coop. If hens were in the coop she'd go and peck them until they left. She's being very hasty and brutal to the other birds. My friend isn't liking this new hen and has separated her from the others. But I don't want her to have to keep her if she's going to torment her other hens, who haven't laid since Sunday. Any advice? Maybe she's just too used to being with her pack and can't get along with others.

 

[lescostes]

Forgot to ask. IF we bring her back home here (we'll have to get a fence or the fox will be back)....is it bad to only have 1 hen?

 

[Judy]

Here is a good guide for adding birds to a flock:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

Your friend would have been better advised to keep the new hen separate for a while. Usually they can be integrated just fine, but it takes some time and management.

Yes, it is a problem to try to keep one chicken, as you suspected when you gave her away. They are flock birds and do much better with other birds.

 

[cmom]

I used a hose on one of my hens that was beating up my pullets. Every time I caught her I sprayed her with the hose. It caught her by surprise. She quit beating them up.