Need help re-introducing injured hen back into flock

[KCD]

Last week a fox attacked one of my hens while they were out foraging. Happened in the middle of the day while both husband and I were out doing work in the yard. Thankfully we were out because I was able to hear her cry and stop the attack. She was pretty chewed up and had several deep puncture wounds. Our neighbor is a vet so I took her across the road to have her looked at. She got her cleaned up and gave her some injections but we just had to wait and see how she recovered. We kept her in chicken ICU for about 6 days inside the house and she did great! The vet said she looked good enough to go back out to the coop. We only have the 2 hens remaining at this point (my original 6 are all gone due to hawks or natural causes (they were 7)). The hen that wasn't attacked was hatched with the one that was and they had never been separated before this. While the one was recovering inside the house, the other one was crowing and seemed quite stressed being alone...so I was beyond surprised by her behavior when I brought the other back to the coop. There was an initial stand-off that I had assumed was her confirming who this "new" girl was but she immediately chased her down and began pecking her. I didn't know if it was them re-establishing the pecking order but it continued to happen all afternoon, to the point that the recovering hen, Foxy, was being knocked down and continued to be pecked. It looks very much like introducing new pullets to the flock. I'm not sure what to do with them. Foxy can get away but I'm worried that she's not "fully" healed yet and it will stress her more. After surviving a fox attack I don't want her to deteriorate from the stress of the other hen. I'm super surprised that this is even an issue because she's not a new hen and they have been together their whole lives! They have always been the outcasts from the rest of the flock because they came in just the two of them. When the last original hen died, nothing changed with their behavior at all. They just kept to themselves, so again I was not expecting this! Any thoughts?

 

[coach723]

Use a wire dog crate, and crate her in the run with the other hen. No matter the circumstances it's always best to start integration with a 'look but don't touch' set up. They can get used to each other that way while no one gets hurt. Alternately you can put up temporary fencing to separate them, just make sure they can't fly over. It may be a matter of hours, or it may be days, you never know. Feed them both close together on opposite sides of the wire or crate. Once things calm down, you can try integrating with supervision. If it doesn't go well, separate and give it some more time.

 

[KCD]

Use a wire dog crate, and crate her in the run with the other hen. No matter the circumstances it's always best to start integration with a 'look but don't touch' set up. They can get used to each other that way while no one gets hurt. Alternately you can put up temporary fencing to separate them, just make sure they can't fly over. It may be a matter of hours, or it may be days, you never know. Feed them both close together on opposite sides of the wire or crate. Once things calm down, you can try integrating with supervision. If it doesn't go well, separate and give it some more time.

Great! Thanks! We have a wire crate we used when training our dogs. Should I put her in the run or coop?

 

[azygous]

You have two things going on that are contributing to the conflict. One is, as you've already figured out, the pecking order reordering itself. Anytime a chicken is removed from a flock, the flock reorders its social order to adjust. When the missing member returns, the flock goes through the social reordering once again.

The other thing is the flock is aware of the hen's injuries and the flock's collective instinct is to drive away the injured member to preserve the safety of the flock.

The injured hen would benefit by enjoying time in a safe enclosure within sight of the flock while she recovers her health and her self confidence. Here's an article I wrote to help you understand and deal with the dynamics involved. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[coach723]

I'd put her in the run since that is where they spend their daylight hours. I often have to crate someone for something, they go in the run (my run is enclosed and predator proof) and if it's more than a day I just cover it with a blanket over night. If your run is not predator proof you may need to move the crate into the coop overnight if necessary.

 

[JMotuzick]

I read here and have had luck with using the dog crate as suggested for the day but letting them roost together at night. It will help re- establish things in a safe manor.

 

[KCD]

Thank you all for the help and guidance! We've never had to deal with anything other than the addition of new chicks and we've never been fortunate enough to intervene during a predator attack so I've never had any survivors! Our run is predator proof so I'll do that! Thanks again!

 

[aart]

I answered in this duplicate thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ucing-recovering-hen-back-into-flock.1267191/

 

[KCD]

I wanted to give an update about my hen. I kept her in the dog crate in the run for 4 days and put her in the coop in the evenings. By the 5th day, the other hen was laying (not eggs...just laying there) directly next to the crate and Foxy, the crated hen, was up next to her from inside the crate. I took her out of the crate and they were how they were before everything happened! All is well out there again! Thank you all for the help!