Need help with single hen integration after failed attempts!

[fiddleleaffarm]

I know this has been discussed, but I haven’t been able to find anything on the specific situation I’m dealing with.

A local woman had a pullet who was being severely picked on by her flock, she was in rough shape so I picked her up and rehabbed her. She was initially sweet with me. Quarantined her for about 5 weeks, did the see-no-touch method for 2, then tried integration. It did not go well. I have a flock of 4 who get along splendidly and are not aggressive. The new hen is a salmon faverolle. She’s kind of in the middle size wise. She broke her beak because she freaked out so bad about the other hens. Like, flighty, neurotic, crazy, running into things, trying to hold onto the hardware cloth, flying into the top of the coop HARD and hitting her head. I’ve never seen anything like it. The boss lady hen was definitely pecking at her tail feathers, but not bad and the salmon would still freak out even if the hens were elsewhere and just moved wrong. The other hens seem kind of confused, they’re definitely not freaking out like she is!

I pulled her out and fixed her beak - she’s all better from that now. I’ve tried to let them free range together and now what I’m seeing is that she is utterly terrified of my two bigger hens and absolutely horribly mean to the two smaller hens. She actually was bullying the two smaller ones worse than I’ve ever seen in my flock. I was worried she was going to kill them. So now I’m super confused because it’s more than her just being nervous about integrating. She is definitely more aggressive with me now and is just so flighty and seems stressed all the time.

I realize I probably made a huge mistake and I own that. I shouldn’t have gotten a single chicken! What’s even worse is that I feel like she has some issues. I am truly lost. I don’t know what the right thing to do is and I feel a smidge overwhelmed by it! It’s been months and they’re still not integrated and it’s a lot to manage.

I can assure you I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON about this - please be kind, I’m trying to do the right thing and looking for help. Should I keep doing the free range thing and hope it gets better? What are some indicators I could try integrating again? Should I try to find her a new home? Is it possible that some chickens just can’t live together?? Any suggestions on how to help her? Do they make CBD for chickens?

Appreciate any and all advice. TIA!

 

[fiddleleaffarm]

Should also note that the first time I integrated them I snuck her in the coop overnight and things were fine…until morning when everyone went out into the run!

 

[Bananabread]

Hindsight is always unforgiving and undefeated. That said, seems like you did everything right and reasonable so not sure you could have fixed this situation without putting this hen into chicken therapy, as it clearly seems to have been traumatized by it's former situation and it's continued into your new flock. Chickens don't seem to require much to be triggered. Many people would consider culling at this point. Not saying that's the right thing to do, but an option. I'm interested to hear and learn from alternative options people may suggest. And also--how much time they'd suggest you work on it, given it's already been months.

 

[McChooky]

I had to keep a lone hen in a separate "look but don't touch coop" 2 weeks before releasing her in the main run with the flock but had to put her back in the "look but don't touch coop" at night for another month. They stayed in the same run together everyday.

 

[Sueby]

Could you try & put one of the original 4 in with her & see if that helps? Not sure what your set up looks like, but putting 1 in with her might make her less nervous than being in with all 4 at once. & of course lots of food & water stations & places to hide. The original girl might be too annoyed that she's locked up to bother bullying the new girl. If that works you can try adding another if things settle.

You can try keeping her look no touch for a much longer time, she may calm eventually. Or you can try switching areas - let her in the older girls run/coop so she can get used to the area & feeders & things on her own while they're locked in her area. Again, I don't know what your set up will allow, but lots of room makes integration much easier.

Either way, don't beat yourself up, you're doing fine, some chickens are just nuts! Don't feel bad if you can't make it work, you want peaceful or chicken keeping is no fun for you or the birds.

 

[McChooky]

Could you try & put one of the original 4 in with her & see if that helps? Not sure what your set up looks like, but putting 1 in with her might make her less nervous than being in with all 4 at once. & of course lots of food & water stations & places to hide. The original girl might be too annoyed that she's locked up to bother bullying the new girl. If that works you can try adding another if things settle.

You can try keeping her look no touch for a much longer time, she may calm eventually. Or you can try switching areas - let her in the older girls run/coop so she can get used to the area & feeders & things on her own while they're locked in her area. Again, I don't know what your set up will allow, but lots of room makes integration much easier.

Either way, don't beat yourself up, you're doing fine, some chickens are just nuts! Don't feel bad if you can't make it work, you want peaceful or chicken keeping is no fun for you or the birds.

Adding roosting bars after dividing the run solved the problem for me ( its predator proof)

 

[jpalmatier83]

Could you try & put one of the original 4 in with her & see if that helps? Not sure what your set up looks like, but putting 1 in with her might make her less nervous than being in with all 4 at once. & of course lots of food & water stations & places to hide. The original girl might be too annoyed that she's locked up to bother bullying the new girl. If that works you can try adding another if things settle.

You can try keeping her look no touch for a much longer time, she may calm eventually. Or you can try switching areas - let her in the older girls run/coop so she can get used to the area & feeders & things on her own while they're locked in her area. Again, I don't know what your set up will allow, but lots of room makes integration much easier.

Either way, don't beat yourself up, you're doing fine, some chickens are just nuts! Don't feel bad if you can't make it work, you want peaceful or chicken keeping is no fun for you or the birds.

I’ve not had this specific problem but @Sueby may be onto something. If you separate one from the four and put it with the new one you’d be doing two things. Giving the newbie time to adjust to being with other chickens again, and shaking up the pecking order. I don’t know if it’s be better to do it with a big one or a small. Obviously if you go with a big and the new gets bullied it’s a failed experiment. Same goes for if you go with a small and the new one bullies her. And, if the experiment fails you run the risk of having issues reintegrating the existing bird back in with the other three.

A variation on that plan would be to split the current flock 2x2 and add the new girl to one of those. Would definitely mix up the pecking order and give her a chance to establish herself. You’d have to keep a close eye on them at first though.

All this is assuming you’ve observed the new bird long enough to be sure she has no health issues which would be causing the bullying behavior.

And that you want to commit this much time and effort.

 

[Mrs. K]

The problem with the separate but they can see her idea. Is that the wrong bird is in the cage. Chickens are territorial, and they are intimidated by a strange place, they hate changes. So you take a bird out of the cage, that is her territory, and put her in a strange place (yes I know she has seen it, but not been in it) and then all the other hens chase the bejeezus out of her.

Instead, lock the original flock out of the coop/run. Lock the newbie in the run/coop. Feed along the fence. This lets her explore, find the feed stations and water. Look around, check out the hideouts and just gain some territorial rights without being chased for her life. Lock her up at night, let the old girls in. Rinse and repeat for a couple of days.

Then leave one of the middle birds in the run/coop with her. Now there is apt to be a dust up, but it will be one on one, each side has territorial rights, and it should settle down. Do this for 2-3 days.

Add one more chicken - so now you have 3 in, and 3 outside. Do not rush this. Again a bit of a dust up, but not 4 on 1. Repeat 3-4 days.

Now when you let the old girls in, do it close to dark - and chances are, the urge to roost is about even with the urge to fight, and should get everyone in the coop.

Once in a while, you will have one or 2 of the birds that are just heartless. If so, put them in the cage and wait a week. If that doesn't work, but them in a cage away from everyone else. Wait a week. If that doesn't work, try pin less peepers, and if that doesn't work, it ain't going to work, and sell her.

Mrs K

 

[Tonyroo]

She's severely traumatized by her past experience and doesn't know how to cope in the present day.

So essentially she's broken. Keeping her will do more harm to her and your flock.

Don't keep her with your flock only because you don't want them learning any bad behaviors she's presenting to them. Then you'll really be in a jam.

Rehome her or cull her.
Note that if you rehome her without discussing her past issues. The new owner will go through what you went through.