One chick getting hurt by others

[agrosner]

Hi everyone, I am new here and just started the whole "chicken thing" about 4 months ago. We got a 6 pack of chicks and raised them with no problems. We found a coop on line that someone was getting rid of which also included 2 other chickens (a little older but not sure by how much). We kept the little girls seperate from the older girls until last month when we merged "flocks". No problems until one day I saw one chick limping and her rear-end was pecked and bleeding. I took her out and put her back in the smaller (original) coop by herself for a few weeks to heal. I put this blue stuff on her (sorry can't remember the name of it but it can be put on wounds of horses, dogs, chickens, etc.) and was told that the other birds would not like the taste of this blue stuff and would leave her alone. Well they didn't. They came after her again to the point she was trying to get out of the coop and panting so bad my husband and I put her back in the old coop by herself. Is there any way of getting her back in with the others or is she just going to be alone from now one? I don't know what to do and feel so bad for her but I don't want to put her back in and "hope for the best". I have heard of the "pecking order" but not sure what to do, if anything, about it. Any suggestions? Will I be able to put her back in?

 

[TwoCrows]

The best thing you can do is find out who is the trouble maker and separate that bird for a few weeks. After the wound has completely healed, then turn the injured bird out with the others. After the trouble maker has been away from the flock for quite awhile, the pecking order will have changed a bit and the more aggressive bird will not be so high in order, being sort of the new bird. Then the injured one will have had time to adjust to being within the flock and may have also moved up a few notches in the order.

This is about all you can do other than separate both groups. Good luck!

 

[agrosner]

Thanks so much! I found out today that the three that ganged up on the one were ROOSTERS and just got back home from bringing them to a really nice farm to live. I looked at the injured one a little more and think it might be on it's way to being a rooster as well

It has the same long feathers going down the neck but the waddle and red thing on the head is not as big or pronounced as the other three - it was also much smaller. I'll just make sure it heals up and have to think about what to do going forward.

Thanks again!!!