Reintroducing injured Pulley *graphic pictures*

[jknaubs]

Hello,
I wanted to get some advice. I have six 8 week old pulleys that I have spent 2 weeks introducing to our existing 5 hens. There was one of our hens that was extremely aggressive so we isolated her for 4 days. The other 4 hens were doing fine with the pullets. We put the aggressive hen back in and she seemed fine all day, then the next morning I found one of the pullets badly injured on the head. She is now isolated and healing (pics below) and the aggressive hen was given to a friend with a much larger flock.

The pullet seems to be doing okay, eating and drinking and pretty bright. I'm putting coconut oil on the wounds several times a day. My concern now is how do I got about putting her back with the others? How long do I have before there is a problem? How long should I keep her isolated?

Day one

Day two

 

[jknaubs]

Anyone?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Make her a pen where everyone can see her but can't hurt her. Plan to keep her in there for a few weeks before letting her out under supervision to see how they react. They should just accept her, if not put her back and keep trying. The smaller your set up the harder introducing more is. There's a need for a certain amount of territory from a flock depending on numbers, so never crowd and always build big.

 

[jknaubs]

Thank you. We had a set up like that for the 6 pullets when we were introducing them before so I'll just set it back up. How long do you think she needs to be kept inside? I'm concerned about her getting maggots if I put her out too soon

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Flies will find her inside too. The wound looks healed enough to hopefully not attract any, I've had poultry with wounds during fly season and haven't seen anything get maggots. Chickens are really good at healing, I don't put anything on wounds except bluekote if they aren't too deep, but with it being her head you don't want to get any in the eyes, so it would be tricky.