New chicken- not ideal situation

[NewAtThis8]

Need some help (or a therapist idk).

A friend had a chicken that was being bullied so badly she was bleeding and injured. She separated her from the flock and she was so stressed she stopped laying. She tried to reintroduce her a few times and it was unsuccessful so she rehomed her to me- the sucker.

I have 5 existing chickens, two of which are a few weeks behind the original 3 that we brought in when they were about the same size as the OGs. We kept them separate in the run and then put them in the coop at night, eventually despite some scuffles they were accepted.

Tried the same thing with this new lady but it’s not going well- they aren’t just having scuffles they’re running at her and pulling at her feathers. She’s been through a lot and I feel very bad for her. I know ideally we’d have brought her in with a friend but she didn’t have a friend- she was separated and solo with her old flock and is solo now. So I’m trying to make the best of a crappy situation.

She’s a big old olive egger, just over a year old, and is the biggest of all of the chickens I have (starlight green eggers, one tiny but mighty RIR, a buff Orpington that is on the very small side for a buff, and a barred rock who was previously the biggest- and to add to the problems in my flock, is a feather eater….)

The run is 10x6’ and they free range supervised for a bit but mostly are confined to the run due to predators.

She and they were great in the coop last night but as soon as they woke up and wanted to be let out the behavior continued.

Did we move too fast? Should we let them peck it out if she isn’t getting hurt and it may straighten out eventually? I remember them doing the same to my buff (one of the two we introduced later) but eventually they got over it…

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[Penpal]

If there are spots on the new chicken that are red the hens will naturally attack these spots.

 

[NewAtThis8]

If there are spots on the new chicken that are red the hens will naturally attack these spots.

She’s all healed up- no red spots

 

[HollowOfWisps]

She needs to be separated where they can see her, but not her to her. A metal dog cage, a wire fence diving them something along those lines. This needs to happen for a good 2 weeks before you put them together where they can physically touch her.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As things stand this would be a very difficult integration. A solo hen is hard to introduce, and you are at an absolute bare minimum of space for a fully integrated flock (and integration needs more space), plus there wasn't anything like a see-but-no-touch introduction.

Is there a backup plan if you cannot add her to your flock?

 

[NewAtThis8]

As things stand this would be a very difficult integration. A solo hen is hard to introduce, and you are at an absolute bare minimum of space for a fully integrated flock (and integration needs more space), plus there wasn't anything like a see-but-no-touch introduction.

Is there a backup plan if you cannot add her to your flock?

We did have her in a dog crate next to the run for a day before bringing her into the run with the baby gate separating her (that she and they can jump over, so it was sometimes touch) but I do believe this is why it’s been hard. Unfortunately there isn’t a backup plan- i am sure the friend would take her back if it doesn’t work out but she’d likely be back in the original situation, alone in her own coop. My girls (so far, and knock wood) haven’t full on attacked and drawn blood, but we do have some existing problems of our own (feather eater) and they are going after her to peck her when she’s near food or water- I was hoping it was just a poorly going pecking order establishment. Totally not ideal at all but we wanted to help

 

[FrostRanger]

Generally you'd want to do see but no touch for at least a week so they get used to each other. It's too late for this now but you'd also want to quarantine any new birds you get as far away from your existing flock as possible for a month even if they seem healthy 'cause it's not unusual for the stress of moving to cause a bird to fall ill and people have lost their entire flocks from failing to quarantine. As for the feather picker, I'd switch to a feed with around 20% protein if you don't already feed that and put some pinless peepers on her. Bird sometimes feather pick due to a lack of protein so increasing protein will rule that out as a cause

 

[NewAtThis8]

Generally you'd want to do see but no touch for at least a week so they get used to each other. It's too late for this now but you'd also want to quarantine any new birds you get as far away from your existing flock as possible for a month even if they seem healthy 'cause it's not unusual for the stress of moving to cause a bird to fall ill and people have lost their entire flocks from failing to quarantine. As for the feather picker, I'd switch to a feed with around 20% protein if you don't already feed that and put some pinless peepers on her. Bird sometimes feather pick due to a lack of protein so increasing protein will rule that out as a cause

Ugh thank you- we really did go about this the wrong way. I truly appreciate the advice!! I suspected the feather picking was nutritional vs behavioral because as a chick she’d eat the duck feathers that fell on the ground as they were molting (they live separate now but they all grew up together). But then everyone said it was not a nutrition thing… i increased them to 17% protein kalmbsch layer pellets But saw that there’s another step up that’s for feather growth that’s got 22% i wanted to try after this bag is gone… suspicious that she’s my biggest girl and is the one doing it as if she needs more than what they were getting maybe because of her size. Pinless peepers are also in my Amazon cart!

 

[FrostRanger]

The 22% would be perfect! It's normal for birds to eat random feathers off the ground even if they aren't nutritionally deprived, but outright feather picking can be nutrition related
Raising birds is a learning process, no one goes in knowing everything, every single one of us is learning as we go along!

 

[NewAtThis8]

The 22% would be perfect! It's normal for birds to eat random feathers off the ground even if they aren't nutritionally deprived, but outright feather picking can be nutrition related
Raising birds is a learning process, no one goes in knowing everything, every single one of us is learning as we go along!

Thank you so much, I truly appreciate the advice and kindness!