Reintegrate bullied hen

[chickenjed]

Hi, I'm new to this site and new to keeping chickens. I am hoping for some advice on my new girls. I adopted 3 hens from a friend who was unable to care for them anymore, all are in good health and seem pretty happy hens. The only problem is that the previous owner has kept one hen sectioned off from the other 2 for quite a while, she says that the other 2 will kill her if they are put together.
The 2 in question are very large birds, I believe a sussex and a black orpington and the picked on one is a small red hen, I have tried them together in different conditions, such as in the run = lots of chicken violence, ranging the garden = not really a problem until the little red one tries to join in with the 2 big girls. They are housed in one big run but sectioned off, they sit together but with chicken wire between them but as soon as the wire comes down its feathers everywhere!!
So what I'm really wondering is will they ever be able to live together or should I just keep the run sectioned and get the red one a friend of similar size?

Thanks for looking at this

Jed

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The only thing that comes to mind is using pinless peepers on the big girls. http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pinless_peepers.html

Peepers are something to try, but if the behavior is that entrenched it may not be enough. Sounds like you just have a bad flock dynamic with these three hens. If you get some more hen friends for your little red hen, then she may not feel the need to be with the aggressive girls. Adding a few more hens might help. Or, you could do both. That's what I'd try, I think.

And if adding new hens and using peepers doesn't work, I personally would get rid of the problem hen(s) and try again.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[chickenjed]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. You have affirmed what I was thinking, just the wrong combination of chickens I guess. I will get a friend of similar size for the red hen and see where we go from there. Thanks again.