Poor Nelly can't get accepted back into the pack

[Dhkoenig]

Hi All - forgive me for posting so much but Nelly was injured, recovered in my garage, I put her in a separate run during the day where the others could see her, then I put her back in. I was surprised how easy it was. They went to roost together and I thought all was well. The next day she was limping a tiny bit again so I kept an eye out. It seemed like she was holding her own but her tail was a bit down. So that night I watched the roosting on the nanny cam. She roosted first (she is my early to bed, late to rise girl) and the hen that is the least aggressive climbed over her and gave her a peck out of the way. Then the two buffs came in one by one and did the same - climbed over, shover her and then pecked her. The worst part was once she was put at the end of the pecking order, the buff next to her started hammering her with pecks. She ended up perched on the corner of the piece of wood at the end of the perch all hunched over. I went and got her in the middle of the night and put her back in isolation. Yesterday we got a coop to put inside our run. The coop comes with a little run of its own so the chickens can be together but separate. Since she was back to not limping at all, I let her out with the others - I had my handy broom ready. I kept having to keep them from her because they were trying to fight. It goes beyond pecking - my one buff got around me and jumped on top of Nellie and took a big bloody bite out of her comb. I put antiseptic on it and put her back into the run, but when will I ever, and how will i ever get her back with the flock? I don't want to have to keep her in this "sub-run" for ever. Plus when it gets hot, I feel like that little coop isn't as well ventilated and I don't want her to have to be alone forever! Help! has anyone tried pinless peepers? If I put them on the other three will she end up acclimating with them?

 

[McChooky]

If te other flock members injured her in the first place you may have to remove her permanently.

 

[Chicalina]

Is there another friendly hen you can put in with her to keep her company?

Or depending on your flock numbers, can you remove the bullies to the temp pen for a week and put Nellie with the rest of the flock? Then reintegrate the bullies, who will then have a lower position.

 

[Dhkoenig]

Is there another friendly hen you can put in with her to keep her company?

Or depending on your flock numbers, can you remove the bullies to the temp pen for a week and put Nellie with the rest of the flock? Then reintegrate the bullies, who will then have a lower position.

Thanks for replying. I have four and sadly Nelly has always tied for lowest man on the totem pole. The one who is most bullying her, is the one who is at the bottom of the pecking order but she is a pain in the butt (love her dearly) and the other two tolerate her at best. The nicest one besides Nelly is Franny but franny also seems to want to peck her in to place. It used to be that Butternut and Nelly were sort-of besties but Butternut I think is now head B in charge, so since Nelly is so meek and already low, and they know she was hurt - I can't figure out who to put in jail and who to put with her - if any. Not sure if there is one who won't peck her. Maybe Frannie wouldn't draw blood tho - maybe just give a few "who's boss" pecks. I dunno. My heart aches for poor Nell

 

[Dhkoenig]

Thanks for replying. I have four and sadly Nelly has always tied for lowest man on the totem pole. The one who is most bullying her, is the one who is at the bottom of the pecking order but she is a pain in the butt (love her dearly) and the other two tolerate her at best. The nicest one besides Nelly is Franny but franny also seems to want to peck her in to place. It used to be that Butternut and Nelly were sort-of besties but Butternut I think is now head B in charge, so since Nelly is so meek and already low, and they know she was hurt - I can't figure out who to put in jail and who to put with her - if any. Not sure if there is one who won't peck her. Maybe Frannie wouldn't draw blood tho - maybe just give a few "who's boss" pecks. I dunno. My heart aches for poor Nell

sorry - so here is the pecking order Butternut (who used to be in the middle) then Frannie (who used to be head B until Nelly moved out - then the dynamics changed) she was a motherly head B. Then Nelly used to be just kind-of mild and somewhere in the middle to bottom but not every bulled. Fancy pants is a big buff who tries to act like head B and wants desperately to be, but sadly nobody really takes her seriously and now she is taking it out on Nelly

 

[Swbertrand1]

We've done the reverse integration too. Remove the bullies, at least the worst of them, then reintegrate them into the flock. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. The thing is the bullying and pecking is really a learned behavior, and once a couple of them see a hen higher up the order doing it, they follow right along. You do know that chickens learn from their peers and learn VERY quickly...

 

[AOrchard]

Is Nelly completely healed and back up to full strength? Sometimes chickens will run off a hen who is still feeling a little under the weather, as they won't defend themselves. Adding several visual barriers in the run and rearranging everything may help too, to give her places to hide and to distract the others with the changes.

 

[Swbertrand1]

sorry - so here is the pecking order Butternut (who used to be in the middle) then Frannie (who used to be head B until Nelly moved out - then the dynamics changed) she was a motherly head B. Then Nelly used to be just kind-of mild and somewhere in the middle to bottom but not every bulled. Fancy pants is a big buff who tries to act like head B and wants desperately to be, but sadly nobody really takes her seriously and now she is taking it out on Nelly

Maybe Fancy Pants needs a time-out from the flock for a few days...

 

[Tonyroo]

You do know that chickens learn from their peers and learn VERY quickly...

I totally agree and have witnessed it.

 

[McChooky]

Did I miss how she was injured initially?