Reintroducing a chicken with prolapsed vent to flock

[Emak2323]

hello - 20 days ago I discovered my buff Orpington egg bound with a severely prolapsed vent. 13 days later, the prolapse finally reversed. She has been in my house being given medicine and extra care. I am in mass and things are getting colder.

About 10 days in (still prolapsed) I let her out with the other girls while they were free ranging (8 of them) to see how they would be together and so she could get some weather exposure. They immediately tried to attack her and I removed her. I think this is because she wasn’t fully well. Today I put her out with the rest of them while she was in a dog crate and 2 of the girls Came over and tried to peck her through the crate within 10 minutes

Questions:
-would it be better to get new chicks to reintroduce her to the flock with?
-the coop isn’t big enough to keep the dog crate in the coop itself. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I could gradually reintroduce them?
-in terms of weather acclimation, should I just have her go outside for longer periods each day to get used to the temperature? I suppose I could keep her in the shed in the crate if the nights aren’t going to be below freezing in a couple weeks.

Thanks for any help!! I’m going away in 5 weeks, so I really want to get her settled way before then!

 

[azygous]

This summer I had an old hen with a serious prolapse. I have a policy of not removing a sick or injured chicken from the flock. I have a jail section in my run, a roomy protected pen. I place my patient in this enclosure during the day while she's being treated.

At night, after all the chickens have settled on their perches, I place the patient on a perch where she's used to sleeping. First thing in the morning, I take her off the perch and install her in her enclosure in the run.

This works to protect the patient while she recovers while keeping her in full view of the flock. There is no reintegration needed once she recovers.

I suggest you follow this procedure. Rig some sort of temporary enclosure for her to spend the day in, and at night, let her roost with the others after they have settled in. If you are up to it, you could use this opportunity to build a jail enclosure in your run. I assure you it's one of the smartest things you'll ever do for your chickens and yourself.

Letting your hen spend the day in the run will acclimate her to the outdoor temps again.

 

[Emak2323]

Thanks for your feedback!! This is my first time owning chicks and I had a suspicion this might be an issue. I asked the vet and she said it would be fine (insert eye roll). Anyways, I probably would have still kept her inside because I was bathing her twice a day and she wouldn't be completely dry when I put her back out. Now that this is no longer the case, I will try to rig up something and follow your method below.

About how long did you sneak her into the coop at night and put her back into her separate space before you let her rejoin the flock?

hello - 20 days ago I discovered my buff Orpington egg bound with a severely prolapsed vent. 13 days later, the prolapse finally reversed. She has been in my house being given medicine and extra care. I am in mass and things are getting colder.

About 10 days in (still prolapsed) I let her out with the other girls while they were free ranging (8 of them) to see how they would be together and so she could get some weather exposure. They immediately tried to attack her and I removed her. I think this is because she wasn’t fully well. Today I put her out with the rest of them while she was in a dog crate and 2 of the girls Came over and tried to peck her through the crate within 10 minutes

Questions:
-would it be better to get new chicks to reintroduce her to the flock with?
-the coop isn’t big enough to keep the dog crate in the coop itself. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I could gradually reintroduce them?
-in terms of weather acclimation, should I just have her go outside for longer periods each day to get used to the temperature? I suppose I could keep her in the shed in the crate if the nights aren’t going to be below freezing in a couple weeks.

Thanks for any help!! I’m going away in 5 weeks, so I really want to get her settled way before then!

This summer I had an old hen with a serious prolapse. I have a policy of not removing a sick or injured chicken from the flock. I have a jail section in my run, a roomy protected pen. I place my patient in this enclosure during the day while she's being treated.

At night, after all the chickens have settled on their perches, I place the patient on a perch where she's used to sleeping. First thing in the morning, I take her off the perch and install her in her enclosure in the run.

This works to protect the patient while she recovers while keeping her in full view of the flock. There is no reintegration needed once she recovers.

I suggest you follow this procedure. Rig some sort of temporary enclosure for her to spend the day in, and at night, let her roost with the others after they have settled in. If you are up to it, you could use this opportunity to build a jail enclosure in your run. I assure you it's one of the smartest things you'll ever do for your chickens and yourself.

Letting your hen spend the day in the run will acclimate her to the outdoor temps again.

This summer I had an old hen with a serious prolapse. I have a policy of not removing a sick or injured chicken from the flock. I have a jail section in my run, a roomy protected pen. I place my patient in this enclosure during the day while she's being treated.

At night, after all the chickens have settled on their perches, I place the patient on a perch where she's used to sleeping. First thing in the morning, I take her off the perch and install her in her enclosure in the run.

This works to protect the patient while she recovers while keeping her in full view of the flock. There is no reintegration needed once she recovers.

I suggest you follow this procedure. Rig some sort of temporary enclosure for her to spend the day in, and at night, let her roost with the others after they have settled in. If you are up to it, you could use this opportunity to build a jail enclosure in your run. I assure you it's one of the smartest things you'll ever do for your chickens and yourself.

Letting your hen spend the day in the run will acclimate her to the outdoor temps again.

 

[azygous]

It shouldn't require more than two or three days to get her to be accepted back as a flock member. It's an individual thing dependent on how self confident she is and if she is inclined to stand up for herself. You need to watch how everyone interacts.

There is some more information on integration in this article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/ It might help you to better understand how chicken society operates and how to ease a hen into the line-up.

 

[apryl29]

I had one that I had to remove for a couple weeks b/c of an injury and when I put her back in the other ones attacked her. They acted like she was a stranger. The flock was out ranging and I let her go and figured when everyone went back in they'd just accept her. I was very wrong. I had a dog crate that I'd kept her in inside when she was healing, so I put that outside and put her in there while they were ranging as I made room in the coop for the cage. The others still tried to fight with her through the cage. I put the cage in the coop & put her inside it. The next day I let her out while they were all ranging and there was still some issues with fighting. I put her in the cage one more night and the next day when I let her back out everything was fine.

 

[Emak2323]

I had one that I had to remove for a couple weeks b/c of an injury and when I put her back in the other ones attacked her. They acted like she was a stranger. The flock was out ranging and I let her go and figured when everyone went back in they'd just accept her. I was very wrong. I had a dog crate that I'd kept her in inside when she was healing, so I put that outside and put her in there while they were ranging as I made room in the coop for the cage. The others still tried to fight with her through the cage. I put the cage in the coop & put her inside it. The next day I let her out while they were all ranging and there was still some issues with fighting. I put her in the cage one more night and the next day when I let her back out everything was fine.

Thank you @apryl29 ! You are giving me hope for my situation as it's basically the same! I erected a makeshift run for her this morning and plan to keep her out there during the day to get her used to the weather again. In about a week, I will try adding her to the coop at night. For now she will sleep inside.

 

[apryl29]

Will they be able to see/ be near her during this time? They need to accept her so if she's not by them it won't help.

 

[Emak2323]

Will they be able to see/ be near her during this time? They need to accept her so if she's not by them it won't help.

Yes - it's right outside their run

 

[Emak2323]

I had one that I had to remove for a couple weeks b/c of an injury and when I put her back in the other ones attacked her. They acted like she was a stranger. The flock was out ranging and I let her go and figured when everyone went back in they'd just accept her. I was very wrong. I had a dog crate that I'd kept her in inside when she was healing, so I put that outside and put her in there while they were ranging as I made room in the coop for the cage. The others still tried to fight with her through the cage. I put the cage in the coop & put her inside it. The next day I let her out while they were all ranging and there was still some issues with fighting. I put her in the cage one more night and the next day when I let her back out everything was fine.

Very happy update!! @azygous & @apryl29 since this post, I had been putting sunshine into the separate pen next to the run where the rest of the flock was for a few hours a day (to let her get used to the cold). 3 days ago, I let her out to free range while the other chicks stayed in the run. After about half an hour, I let a couple of the chicks out who weren’t as aggressive towards her. They were fine! Then a couple more! They were fine! Till all were out and going about their business! I’ve been keeping a very close eye on her, but this is now her third night back in the coop. I couldn’t be happier! Thank you both!!

 

[apryl29]

So glad you were able to get her back with the rest of her flock.