Neighbor Chicken will not leave

[Sea Wolf]

New birds in a flock take several days to settle in and find their spot. Let them be and it will smooth out in time. Take some stalks of broccoli, romaine lettuce, corn on the cob ... hang on strings from the top and within reach of the birds. Gives them something else to do instead of picking on the new one.

 

[lverner]

The day went pretty good. The chasing still happens but it diminished some over the course of the day. Little spent a lot of time on top of the pallet in the run but from time to time I would see her walking around the run scratching and etc. Earlier today Little was in a nesting box, to hide from the others so I thought. My husband heard her and a barred rock squawking at each other. Apparently Little was defending the box because she needed to lay an egg! Tonight we watched as the big girls went into the coop to roost. Little waited, would go in, after a few minutes we would hear bickering and back outside she would come. But she kept going back in! It's all the way dark now so we snuck down to the coop so see what was going on. She was huddled down on the floor, almost like she was hiding. We picked her up and put her on a roost (opposite of where the big girls sleep). My husband just went down to the coop to peek in the window, Little was right where he put her. So that's day #1!! Hopefully tomorrow goes better. Thank you all for your help and suggestions and encouragement!!!

 

[aart]

Apparently Little was defending the box because she needed to lay an egg!

So she laid?
If so, that's a great sign she's not too stressed...
...and just that she defended her place in a nest successfully is real progress.
Kudos for your patience, and thanks for sharing the experience here.

 

[Cryss]

 

[hispoptart]

Sounds like she doing pretty good so far. You are awesome for taking her in

 

[TheRusticRebel]

This thread just filled up my happy.

 

[Aunt Angus]

This thread just filled up my happy.

I love this post. Captures how I feel perfectly.

 

[Chickassan]

Well looks like she's not the neighbor's chicken anymore.

 

[lverner]

Sunday night update: Today was pretty good. There seems to be one big girl (Isa Brown) who is quite focused on making Little's life hell. (Did I mention we figured out that Little is an Old English Bantam?) This Isa has some messed up feathers on her head and sides (it's been like this for quite awhile, before Little came along). Our theory is that the Isa is at the bottom of the pecking order. But, Little has her pallet and the big girls have a hard time navigating on it and that's where she sits a lot. Another nice surprise in the nesting box...Little laid another egg today! At dusk, the girls started going into the coop. It seemed as if they were stalling to keep Little out. She's not easily discouraged and made her way in. My husband put a higher roost in the coop for her this weekend. We just got back from checking on them and found her up on it. So here ends Sunday's update.

 

[hispoptart]

Sounds like the rest of the flock is starting to except her, maybe you can isolate Isa for a day or 2 and see if that helps stop her bulling on the little?