Reintroducing a chicken

[BizzyB]

I’ve been struggling a bit with reintroducing one of my hens back into the flock. She was injured by a dog and the wound was made worse by her flock mates that we had to separate her from them but now they won’t allow her back into the flock. We put her in with them today and it seemed to be going well until one of our younger hens, the one we’re reintroducing is one of our originals, attacked her and I thought it was normal pecking order behavior until my niece saw blood on the older hen’s beak and comb.

We cleaned off the blood to find she has a cut on her comb and a wound on her beak. Is this still normal behavior? We separated her again into a smaller coop that is right next to the main coop so they can still see each other.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Blood in combs it totally normal... If they can be free ranging it seems to help get them used to each other better as they both have an escape option. As long as eyes are not being injured and they aren't loosing parts of the comb, she will be fine. Combs are very sensitive so that often happens.

 

[ChickNanny13]

You can try to "no see no touch" method ....Keeping her in the smaller coop where she/others have a visual on each other is good for a few days, then try allowing her to free range with the flock or put her on the roost at night when it's dark. There will be some squabbles but as long as she can get away, they'll work it out.

 

[Mrs. K]

Introducing a single hen to an established group is the hardest one to do, so don't try it.

Instead, pick a middle of the flock bird. If you don't know who is who, go a bit away from the flock, and throw out a treat, the first ones to get to you are the highest, the last ones are the lowest, and you want a bird out of the middle.

Put that bird with the injured bird. There will be a dust up, but generally one on one settles pretty fast. Way better than one against 5-10. Wait a couple of days.

Then add the pair to the flock, watching carefully, and being as you have tried this and one bird in particular attacked, I would pull that bird and put her where you had the injured bird. Generally speaking, in this situation, there is a leader bird or two that are just relentless, and followers. If you pull out the leaders, the followers generally are much less aggressive.

After a couple of days - you can add them back.

If you don't have a lot of space or extra pens, you can lock the flock out of the run, and the first pair in the run. Let the outside birds in as close to dark as you can.

Mrs K

 

[COChickieDoodle]

I have what I think is a similar situation, though no one has been pulled out yet. I have one hen who isolated herself to the nesting box about a week ago. After a few days, I thought she might be brooding, so I made her come out. As soon as her talons hit the dirt, another hen came at her aggressively! As is described above, the others followed suit until the bully-ee got herself back into her hiding spot. Today, I had the opportunity to separate the mean girl from the others. With her out of the way, peace seems to have resumed. So here’s my question. If I’m going to remove someone, temporarily, do I remove the mean girl? Or the bullied? How long do I keep them apart and do I follow the same process of integrating a “middle” bird first?

Thanks

 

[DebAnneDigi]

Introducing a single hen to an established group is the hardest one to do, so don't try it.

Instead, pick a middle of the flock bird. If you don't know who is who, go a bit away from the flock, and throw out a treat, the first ones to get to you are the highest, the last ones are the lowest, and you want a bird out of the middle.

Put that bird with the injured bird. There will be a dust up, but generally one on one settles pretty fast. Way better than one against 5-10. Wait a couple of days.

Then add the pair to the flock, watching carefully, and being as you have tried this and one bird in particular attacked, I would pull that bird and put her where you had the injured bird. Generally speaking, in this situation, there is a leader bird or two that are just relentless, and followers. If you pull out the leaders, the followers generally are much less aggressive.

After a couple of days - you can add them back.

If you don't have a lot of space or extra pens, you can lock the flock out of the run, and the first pair in the run. Let the outside birds in as close to dark as you can.

Mrs K

Great advice. I just experienced this today too!
“When a hen has been separated from the others due to illness.. how does one reintroduce to the hens… all my hens turned into HS biotches.. pecking at her and making her cower… I don’t think she can handle it just yet. I was curious, so I brought her to run..(wasn’t walking, now progressing, not perfect yet)
I did try with one if the aggressor put them in a portable run..I will try your way now.. my Rosie hasn’t been with them for 3 weeks

 

[getaclue]

What I've done in the past is to get a large dog crate, put the "new" member into it for a few days, so the can see, and get used to it being in there, but can't attack. After a few days, let the "new" member out. Pay attention. There should be a bit of squabbling. Let it happen for a short time, then break it up. No, there should be no blood. Usually, there will only be 1 main bully that does the attacking, or continues picking on the new one. That's the one to pen up for about 3 days. Things should settle down pretty good. After 3 days, let the bully out. Again, pay attention. Yes, they will scuffle a bit. It should not get overly violent, no blood, and if it continues for more than a couple minutes, again go break it up. Walk away, but pay attention. After 3 attempts, if the bully doesn't settle down, put the bully back in the crate for a couple more days. I've had to rinse, repeat up to 3 times, but after the 3rd. time, even the worst bully got the message, and settled down.

 

[DebAnneDigi]

Worked out perfect, with less aggressive hen. She was well behaved for hours… last hour I put in another one. I’ll do this for a few days… then I’ll add one of the bullies to the mix.. see how that goes. My rehabilitation chicken hadn’t preened herself in 3weeks. I made a dust bath, she just sat in it.. I put sand on her back and under her wings.. she attempted to roll in it. Not strong enough yet. But she did preen.. we’re making progress. Thank you for the advice

 

[DebAnneDigi]

What I've done in the past is to get a large dog crate, put the "new" member into it for a few days, so the can see, and get used to it being in there, but can't attack. After a few days, let the "new" member out. Pay attention. There should be a bit of squabbling. Let it happen for a short time, then break it up. No, there should be no blood. Usually, there will only be 1 main bully that does the attacking, or continues picking on the new one. That's the one to pen up for about 3 days. Things should settle down pretty good. After 3 days, let the bully out. Again, pay attention. Yes, they will scuffle a bit. It should not get overly violent, no blood, and if it continues for more than a couple minutes, again go break it up. Walk away, but pay attention. After 3 attempts, if the bully doesn't settle down, put the bully back in the crate for a couple more days. I've had to rinse, repeat up to 3 times, but after the 3rd. time, even the worst bully got the message, and settled down.

Are both of her legs moving? Are the toes curled under? Is she unbalanced? Protect her from others pecking her if she is lame. I would separate her in a dog crate with food and water near to her. You could check for a stuck egg that might cause temporary paralysis, by inserting a clean finger into her vent. Try to get her drinking some fluids and eating som e moistened food. Chopped egg and a 1/4 tablet of human vitamin B complex daily in case of a deficiency would be good.

@getaclue It was a long month.. I ended up bringing her in house to better supervise supplements, fluid and eating. She slowly regained some stamina. I took her for short walks and forced her to walk a bit.. I put her back in run, some hens were aggressive towards her. I kept her in enclosed area.. for a few days and tried again.. I found her cowering in a corner.. I ended up locking up the 3 aggressors for 5 days.. thankfully all is good now and back to normal. My Rosie is laying again too. Attached are supplements I used
Thank you so much for your great advice!

 

[getaclue]

I'm glad I was able to contribute something helpful to you, and your chickens.