ostrasized chicken

[aliveandliving]

ok. so . i live with 4 hens.
[the bad girls aka tbg] 2 are older and from the same flock one is an isa brown the other a sexlink
[the other one] 1 is a 19week old isa brown
[bb] the last in about 19weeks? maybe a bit younger or a bit older she is a Blue Andalusian [i think]

so the 1st time i tried to introduce bb to tbg they attacked her. had her in the corner and pecked her til i pulled her out and penned her near by.
so i picked up the other one and penned those two together. finally had the large pen doen and let bb and the other one roam it for a few days. they get along fine, the other one is very friendyl and bb is just terrified of anyone except the dog and cats
then i temporarily put up a divider and let tbg have half so they could be near each other with no risk of injury and could get used to each other.
the next day i lifted the fence and although there have been no fights bb stays away from the other chickens all the time. and they wont let her eat or drink, i started dropping the fence for an hour everyday so that she can eat some food and drink water alone but she wont go near it.
she also sleeps alone.
im worried she wil starve.

will this get better over time?

i was thinking of bringing her to live with my ducklings.

would another bird from her old flock help? i dont really want another bird. id rather get rid of tbg but they are laying finally.

not sure what to do or think

thanx

 

[Kittymomma]

It should work itself our eventually, but in the meantime I'd add extra feed/water stations so that they can't keep her from eating/drinking. The cheapo chick ones work well or even whatever old dishes you have laying around. You can also try putting a suet cake, hanging cabbage, etc. in the run so they have something to distract them. What you describe is fairly common when introducing new birds and she may not ever become "one of the girls" but it should get better over time. When at all possible I try to bring at least two new ones in at the same time so at least they have one friend.

ETA: Another buddy from her old flock probably would help, but you'll probably have to go thru the whole together but seperate thing again so tbg's don't do the same thing to the new bird that they did to this one when you first introduced her.

 

[aliveandliving]

thanx

bb and the other one were buddies when they were by them selve so i hope that helps to draw her out too

 

[elizabethlongwood]

I have one pullet who was introduced to the other three in mid-June when we had to switch out a roo for another pullet. We kept her separate for a couple of weeks, then let her free range during the day with them but sleep separately at night for awhile. Then at the beginning of August, we put her in the henhouse with the others at dusk, hoping they would finally accept her. I would say they tolerate her, but still don't fully accept her as part of the flock. One chicken chases our Bella away from food and water and pecks her (not hard, just enough to scare her) and the other two either ignore her or chase her away. I feel bad for her, she seems so lonely. She is our sweetest chicken, just loves to be held and stroked. I hand feed her a little food each day and take her over to the water and stand guard so she can drink. I also have two other chick water dispensers in the chicken yard, and a small feeder in the yard under a tree. I find that she just waits until the others are resting or distracted and then runs over to get her fill of food and water. I think these little bullied chickens just need extra feeding/water stations and TLC from us as long as they aren't being really hurt or injured by the others. Who knew chickens could be so mean! It's like watching 'Mean Girls' or Heathers' all over again!

 

[aliveandliving]

thanx for all the insite and advice.

bb doesnt really like humans. so if i amd near the food or water she stears clear.
but last night i put a bowl of water and some food into the kennel she has chosen to sleep in by herslef so i know she ate that stuff.
do you think its ok to close the kennel door and make sure the other chickens cant hassle her at night? or early morning before i get up?

 

[joemwm]

is your new hen a smaller breed than the others if it is than this may be more of size thing than being just a newbe also chickens don't like change so you have to go slow with the intros 3-5 day see but protected period so they forget that she wasn't always there with them helps most of the time

 

[drunkdog]

the seperate but adjoining thing worked for us we have 4hens and a roo that are almost 20weeks and 8pullets that are now 6weeks...we put the pullets in the big girls coop at week 3 but kept them seperate inside it....a week ago we let them all join up and there has been no bullying beyond the bigger girls saying hey i get to eat first...our Roo has adopted the little ones and I have even seen him jump a big girl that he thought was bullying....just my experience...

 

[aliveandliving]

so here is an update.

today bb was mingling a little more. last night i made sure she slept next to food and water and i wonder if that gave her an energy boost and some confidence.

and now the other one is sleeping with her as tbg seems to have taken over the chicken coop i built for the two new ones. even though they already had their own.

tahnx for all the info and advice. im sure this is slowly working itself out.

 

[sheaviance1]

I had no trouble with the first two integrations that I did with my flock, but this time, I am having tons of trouble. I got three more chickens about a month ago and I have been keeping them segregated until they got some size on them. I took the fence down yesterday. The pullets that were at the bottom of the pecking order in the original flock are the meanest. The boss hen doesn't seem to care that they are there. I guess we just watch and wait and let them sort it out. I have seen in some of the other threads about integrating your flock that you can put the offenders in time-out. I hope i don't have to resort to that. From now on, I think I will be following the "all-in all-out advice" and not getting any more new birds until all of my original flock is done.

 

[welasharon]

I put lots of water and feed stations around so my little banty hen could eat. They couldn't run her off of all them and still eat themselves so that helped a lot. I took two or three weeks for them to leave her alone. I just gave her lots of places to go to get away from them.