New hen is being rejected by the rooster. Help!

[jenkutler]

Hi. I help out looking after a very small flock and two new hens were introduced. They were isolated first and slowly integrated. One was taken in by the flock and the other was pecked mercilessly. We thought we would let them work it out and then it would be fine but over the past few weeks its only gotten worse and now the rooster pecks her until she's bloody and her entire neck is bare. We are keeping her isolated with her own food and water now but we really don't have the space to keep this arrangement. Does anyone have any ideas or advice? Thanks so much!

 

[donrae]

You should keep her out until she's well healed, or they'll just peck her again. Blu-Kote is good to put on wounds to mask the bloody color that triggers pecking.

How much space do these birds have? Are there any barriers in the run that would allow the hen to get out of line of sight for a while--out of sight, out of mind is true for a lot of chickens. I've put my feed cans in the run along with a galvanized feed trough to break up sight lines and give lower birds a place to hide for a while.

 

[jenkutler]

They have a lot of space and are free range so they wander all over the property and come back to the coop at night. There are quite a few good hiding places but the rooster seeks her out and chases her out of almost all of them if they're inside at the same time. Thanks for the tip, we will definitely keep her in her own section until she's fully healed.