Reintroducing into flock after picking incident.

[Joyness]

I have a 7 week old Lavender Orpington who had a terrible picking incident a few days ago. After having been picked at a bit I removed Taffy from the flock (all are 6-8 weeks old) to heal. Once healed I brought her back to the flock, everything seemed Ok... we left for a few hours. Huge mistake. I came home to find her panicking, flying inside the coop from one end to the other. Her head was completely red. I promptly removed her and brought her inside. She’s healing well but is very scared now. She reacts to any sound or quick movement.

I had 3 Old English Game (2 of whom were cockerel) that I have returned to the breeder. I had bought them under the impression they were Silverudd’s, as they grew I realized they were not Silverudd’s at all. Turned out the wrong day old chicks were given. The breeder took them back (I was told they’re extremely aggressive and not to be around children) and I also brought him a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Black Copper Maran who weren’t quite fitting in with the flock.

I’m wondering now that the energy in the coop and flock is different, not as tense because the OEG are gone would Taffy be ok to return? Once completely healed what is the best way for her to return? A few days in a cage within the coop? Would that not be scary for her? What is the best, most gentle re-entrance that I can offer her? Will she ever get over the fear of being attacked again? Will she be picked on again? Thanks in advance.

 

[featheredplanets]

because she’s quite young, i’d spend a few weeks trying to buddy her up with your tamest pullet. then integrate them together

 

[Pork Pie]

Agreed. This link may be useful - http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock

I would suggest that taking proactive steps to try and reduce the chances of further pecking would be a good idea. These links may help

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1148824/topic-of-the-week-feather-pecking-eating

http://articles.extension.org/pages...nibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

 

[Joyness]

because she’s quite young, i’d spend a few weeks trying to buddy her up with your tamest pullet. then integrate them together

Great idea, thanks so much. There’s another Lavender Orpington (same age) who is quite calm... I think they would be great together. I’ll try this for sure.

 

[Joyness]

Agreed. This link may be useful - http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock

I would suggest that taking proactive steps to try and reduce the chances of further pecking would be a good idea. These links may help

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1148824/topic-of-the-week-feather-pecking-eating

http://articles.extension.org/pages...nibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

Thanks so much for the links. The second doesn’t seem to work. I’ll do a search on that site.

I’m wondering if it was heat related. I noticed it happened during the week we had very hot weather. I have a PVC waterer with 6 nipples so there’s ample watering space. I have a Grandpafeeder which seems to offer ample feeding space but I’m wondering if adding a second would help things.

Since the serious picking incident I’ve rehomed 5 of our birds. 3 of which (Old English Game) were pretty intense. I loved them, had put a lot of care into them when I got them at a few days old. I was attached but needed to let them go. I wouldn’t have had them to begin with if I had known what breed they were. I also rehomed 2 who were obvious bullies ~ they weren’t fitting in so I thought rehoming would bring even more calmness to the flock.

So now I’m down to 11 chicken and 4 keets. Our coop is an old trailer/camper we converted into a coop. It’s 14x8. There are 3 roosts in the coop so I’m thinking space is good. Maybe they felt too cramped when we had the other 5 still with us?

For now they have a run which is approximately 14x8 as well until they’re a bit older and bigger then they’ll have access to our 3 acres.

I’m really hoping now that we’ve let the 5 more intense birds go things will be easier for all. I have noticed the flock is way more relaxed already.

Your first link along with the original conversation the writer linked to was amazing. So many helpful tips. I feel confident I’ll be able to reintegrate Taffy in with her flock safely.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[christwodog]

If you can narrow down the offenders to one or two birds, you can put them in "jail" for several days or a week, let Taffy gain some confidence without them bothering her. They probably will be bumped down in the pecking order because they were separated from the flock while in jail. I had to do this with a pair of barred rocks who were picking on a faverolle. It took two weeks of chicken jail, but I think it was the best solution, now everyone is together with no incidents, other than the occasional squabble. It allowed Leilani (faverolle) to lose some of her fearfulness, with the bullies locked away. Now if someone tries to pick on her, she stands up to them. Good luck!

 

[Joyness]

I let go of two who were a little too pushy. I think they were cockerels so I would have had to let them go eventually. I think I still have a few cockerel who will need to go. Time will tell.

Taffy has been with the flock but separated in her own run next to theirs and in a dog cage in the coop. With her own water and feeder. She hates it. Especially at night when everyone is getting cozy together.

My husband helped with bringing Taffy into her run today but in the transition from coop to run she jumped from his arms. She ran over to the flock and was immediately pecked at.

I have a feeling this will be an extremely long process for the flock to accept her back. She’s miserable being separated and that breaks my heart.

As for there being a specific pecking offender, with all the potentials gone from the flock it will be interesting to see who if any do peck more than the others once Taffy returns. I will say, since to OEG have left others are trying to take over he roll of leader. I’ve noticed some stand offs more than before.

Chicken jail: do you use a dog cage in the coop as a jail? I’m guessing you don’t remove them entirely from the flock which would probably lead to more problems once they return?

 

[christwodog]

I let go of two who were a little too pushy. I think they were cockerels so I would have had to let them go eventually. I think I still have a few cockerel who will need to go. Time will tell.

Taffy has been with the flock but separated in her own run next to theirs and in a dog cage in the coop. With her own water and feeder. She hates it. Especially at night when everyone is getting cozy together.

My husband helped with bringing Taffy into her run today but in the transition from coop to run she jumped from his arms. She ran over to the flock and was immediately pecked at.

I have a feeling this will be an extremely long process for the flock to accept her back. She’s miserable being separated and that breaks my heart.

As for there being a specific pecking offender, with all the potentials gone from the flock it will be interesting to see who if any do peck more than the others once Taffy returns. I will say, since to OEG have left others are trying to take over he roll of leader. I’ve noticed some stand offs more than before.

Chicken jail: do you use a dog cage in the coop as a jail? I’m guessing you don’t remove them entirely from the flock which would probably lead to more problems once they return?

For chicken jail, I have used two different set-ups. For the pair of barred rocks, I used the baby box, as we call it, which is what we put the chicks in once they leave the brooder box. It's just some lattice and hardware cloth panels that we made, and we set it up inside the big coop, it has a hinged lid also. The chicks stay in this for a 2-3 weeks until they are big enough explore their area of the coop. It's about 5 feet long by 4 feet deep, 3 feet high. So when I need a place to put someone who's recuperating or someone who's being bad, we just get out the panels and pop in a few screws to hold it together. They can still see and hear each other, but have a sturdy divider.

I also have a rabbit playpen that I got at Petco on clearance and that has come in really handy. It's coated wire enclosure that you can form into a circle that's 5 feet in diameter or you can make it into any shape you want, or use it as a divider down the middle of the coop/run - it's about 30 inches high and comes with canvas cover, but I usually just use a piece of screen and clamp it on. This has been used for rooster jail many times, but now he has his own bachelor pad. I used this when I had to reintroduce the baby who was getting over wry neck, worked great. I ended up buying another rabbit playpen and attached them together to make a larger pen, we put this in the garage for them when we had Hurricane Irma.

 

[Joyness]

For chicken jail, I have used two different set-ups. For the pair of barred rocks, I used the baby box, as we call it, which is what we put the chicks in once they leave the brooder box. It's just some lattice and hardware cloth panels that we made, and we set it up inside the big coop, it has a hinged lid also. The chicks stay in this for a 2-3 weeks until they are big enough explore their area of the coop. It's about 5 feet long by 4 feet deep, 3 feet high. So when I need a place to put someone who's recuperating or someone who's being bad, we just get out the panels and pop in a few screws to hold it together. They can still see and hear each other, but have a sturdy divider.

I also have a rabbit playpen that I got at Petco on clearance and that has come in really handy. It's coated wire enclosure that you can form into a circle that's 5 feet in diameter or you can make it into any shape you want, or use it as a divider down the middle of the coop/run - it's about 30 inches high and comes with canvas cover, but I usually just use a piece of screen and clamp it on. This has been used for rooster jail many times, but now he has his own bachelor pad. I used this when I had to reintroduce the baby who was getting over wry neck, worked great. I ended up buying another rabbit playpen and attached them together to make a larger pen, we put this in the garage for them when we had Hurricane Irma.

Do you happen to have any photos of this rabbit playpen you could share? I’d love to see what it looks like.

 

[christwodog]

Do you happen to have any photos of this rabbit playpen you could share? I’d love to see what it looks like.

This is the exact one I have, I will look thru my phone to see if I have any pix of it set up with a chicken!