Hen was attacked by a racoon about 12 days ago and has recovered nicely. Both eyes appear to be working and looks none the worse except for some feather loss. I tried to bring her back into the pen with the other three hens. Although they all got along very well prior to the attack, there is one hen in particular that has turned quite nasty and won't leave the injured one alone. I don't want to stress the injured one, but I'm anxious to get her out of my house and back to normal. Am I rushing things or is there a better way to reintroduce her to the flock without me having to worry about her?
try putting mentholatum on the spot where they peck, spread it thick and when she gets a mouthful she should quit. If not you could try free ranging her. I had that same problem with my hens, and I took the nasty one out. If she doesn't straighten up she is going away.
Do you have a wire cage or dog crate that you can put her in close to the other girls for a few weeks where they can see her but not touch her?...Or wire off a place in your coop where she can be close to them?...thats what I do when I want to introduce a hen back into the flock...in acouple weeks they will or should let her back in...sometimes just putting them back in with the others is very stressful and they won't let her eat or drink....
Well I too have an injured hen that I am trying to figure out how to introduce her back into her group. She, Fajita the RIR, used to be the top hen in the pecking order of three but now that she's been isolated since early December 2010 and it's now Feb 2011. I've tried letting her scratch around outside the coop so the other ladies can see her, then I let them all scratch around together in the yard, then I put them in the coop together. All of those times the once picked on hen Gordita, barred rock, is the aggressor. The injured hens sister Fajita, partridge rock, seemed excited to se her and didn't peck her. So tonight I tired putting her in the coop after lights out and putting the other two hens inside with her ( they like to sleep outside on their outside roost in good weather). The two hens started pecking her into the corner. So I brought her back inside the house. Turns out the whole idea of putting the hen back in at night depends on many variables. My coop has a red reptile light on inside right now to provide warmth but not disrupt their nocturnal cycles. This meant the hens could see the "new" interloper Chalupa. So tomorrow I will try giving them some more together time during the day. Then At night I'll put her in the coop let the other hens sleep outside, then in the morning when they realize shes there ??? We shall see.
I'm having the same problem with my SLW who was attacked and injured by the dog next door 2 weeks ago, she is almost completely healed but is missing a bunch of feathers, they've seen her all week and nothing, I will have to try putting something where they peck her but I need all her feathers to grow back already so they don't feel the need to her there. I've been letting her hang out with them under supervision but I can't stand seeing them attack her so I remove her inmediately after the first attack...we'll see how it goes...good luck with this huge task