Reintroduce pullet to her sisters after bullying

[Blondietohell]

Hey guys, I’ve been reading here for a while, but I have a situation that is kind of multifaceted, so I had to make an account so that I could get some expert opinions. I’ll post a quick backstory, but scroll down if to the single line about issues if it’s tl;dr

About two months ago, I unexpectedly found myself the new owner of a beautiful, sweet hen. She was lost and unclaimed, so my best friend took her in. Months later, my friend was out of town for an extended period and couldn’t get anyone to watch her, so she asked me if I wanted her. Of course I fell in love with her! She follows me like a puppy and talks to me. She loves being held and petted. She even laid her very first egg the day I took her home! She had been living in a cramped little coop that I would say is probably just big enough for two guinea pigs

I got a 10’x10’ kennel as a temporary run, and hubs is outside at this moment working on my mega coop to attach to it lol.

I didn’t want her to be alone, so I bought four babies (female, I hope) so that she would someday be a part of a flock.

Here’s where the issues started:

I kept the chicks inside my house in a brooder until they feathered out at least most of the way. I didn’t know what they were when I bought them, but after contacting the guy in charge of the chicken orders, I found out they were tetra tints. Kinda disappointed that they are hybrids and won’t have the longest lifespan, but ok My hen looks like a textbook Delaware. The chicks grew FAST, and at 3 weeks, they looked like small grownups with feathers. I put them in a smaller run inside my big run for a few days to let my hen see them, but not peck them. She ignored them and all seemed well. One sunny day, I decided to let them fly around in the run. My hen was totally fine with them. I watched for at least an hour, and it was so calm that I felt comfortable leaving to run a few errands. Big mistake.

I came back to find one of my chicks with a huge wound on her head. I felt sick to my stomach and extremely guilty. I didn’t understand how they were so fine together and then this happens. I took her inside to the brooder and doctored her up (thanks to the advice I read here), and put the other chicks back in the mini run.

Now we are back to square one, except the injured chick is completely ostracized by her little sisters. I let her wound dry up with a thick coat of blu-kote, and brought her out to see her sisters because she was lonely. I assumed my hen had pecked her, not the other babies. I squatted in the run to be close in case anything happened, and she ran happily to the other chicks. To my horror, all three of them stood tall and attacked her immediately! She was so happy to see them and they absolutely despised her She ran underneath me for protection, and they chased her. I gently poked them, and these little jerks bowed up TO ME! Pullets, yall. I’m like oh hell no So back inside we went.

Now my hen will attack the 3 jerk pullets, the 3 jerks will attack my healing but bald pullet, and there is no peace in the kingdom

I have the loneliest little chick living in a pen inside my bedroom now because she’s too big for my little brooder, and she wants to be where she can see me.

How to get my lonely chick to be accepted by her sisters again? How do I get my hen to not attack any of them? They literally live 24/7 in the smaller run inside the big run. Why isn’t this working? I’m managing three separate groups of birds, and all I wanted was for my hen to have companionship, but instead we have war

 

[azygous]

You need to try again, and this time use the see/no touch method. Let the lone chick spend time in a safe enclosure or crate inside the run where the other chicks are. In time they will all become used to one another again, and things should move forward peacefully.

After a few days in the safe enclosure, let the chick spend increasingly longer periods among the other chicks, under supervision, and soon they should all be back to being a flock unit. By this time, the hen should be used to the chicks, as well.

 

[Blondietohell]

Thank you so much for your response! I will go ahead and get her set up out there today. So to be clear, I’m going to have two small enclosures inside of the main enclosure, one for the injured chick, one for the other chicks, and of course the main enclosure for the queen? I want her to be at the top of the pecking order, I just don’t want her to kill anyone either

 

[Lor]

So to be clear, I’m going to have two small enclosures inside of the main enclosure, one for the injured chick, one for the other chicks, and of course the main enclosure for the queen?

That sounds about right.
Just remember... it's only temporary.
I wish you luck!

 

[azygous]

Yes. It may sound complicated, but all you're really doing is exposing them all to one another, and then giving the lone chick a chance to get used to the pecking order again without getting overwhelmed.

What you may not be aware of is that the chicks, being in proximity to the adult hen, are learning about her temperament. Once chicks learn who they are dealing with, will adjust their behavior accordingly. In other words, chicks understand they need to avoid a trigger happy adult, if this is the case with the adult hen.