Returning an injured chicken to the flock

[Glasshen]

Glad to see your thread. I've been having pecking order problems too. One, named Stewpot, was being pecked and was actively bleeding when I had to put them in, so I brought her in to my basement. She was quite happy there, but when she was healed I tried to put her back. I tried at night but even sleepy someone tried to block her from roosting. In the morning I checked early, then a little while later, and it was not going well. I took her out and let her free range outside the pen and two of the red girls flew out to join her, but the other two red girls were still eye-ing her. So I let her go back with the nice girls and took the mean girls to the basement.

Now it has been a week they have been in confinement. They have adjusted well, do believe they should be allowed to free range in the entire basement-not a good idea for chickens- and were not at all interested in being outside while I was cleaning. I kept seeing wild eyed chicken heads at the window!

So, I guess I will take them out gradually like you did and at first keep them outside the pen...I am so glad to have seen this today, as it is time to have a plan. Tomorrow may be a bit warmer, they are not fond of snow.

 

[Noble Rooster]

Glad to hear everyone's chickies are healing! Returning injured chickens to the flock is so frustrating. I've had to do it a few times and even though each time no one's place in the peck order has changed vis-a-vis the injured chicken, they always have to duke it out again. It's like it pushes the reset button and everyone tries to jockey for a new place. In the summer I'm able to set up a hospital coop next to the main coop so everyone can see each other, but even with proximity and supervised free-ranging time before the re-introduction, they generally treat the returnee harshly. Chicken politics!

Trying to put them back at night hasn't really worked for me. I guess it all depends on the dynamics of your particular flock. The whole process takes patience and in my experience the flock dynamics won't be back to "normal" for a while. Keep an eye on how the returnee is treated and be prepared with a lot of anti-pick lotion, a hen saddle, etc. Good luck!!

 

[MD Sand]

Yea, I see that McNasty circles around the back to try a peck but Omelet sees her coming and repositions... seems to be working out unless she's sneak attacked, then she squawks and runs - whether she actually gets pecked or not, she's all drama

That's a good idea for a summer situation, now that this has happened once, I'll make a little hospital coop for summer! We haven't been this cold all winter long, if it was as warm as it has been and I had the space she might have been able to stay in sight.

And Good Luck Glasshen, hope it work out as well for you!!

 

[LestersFlat]

Sorry, I have been having some other non-chicken issues, and didn't see all the responses to this thread.

My naked chicken has her feathers almost fully grown back, and the weather is gradually getting warmer. I am still keeping the heat lamp on for her at night when it is below freezing.

During the day I have been putting her out in the fenced garden, where I can see her right near the house, but about 500 feet from the coop. The roo and the 4 SLWs come back at least twice a day to visit her when she is in there, with the roo doing a silly mating dance that he thinks will impress her. The other 4 hens, including Red Meanie, the one who I caught pecking at her, have not come back to see her yet.

Just this afternoon I put her out in the fenced garden, with the fence open, while roo and the 4 girls were there. They hung out together, peacefully, for about a half hour, and then roo and the girls went back toward the coop, and Red Momma stayed in the garden area for another few minutes and then went back to the garage where I have been keeping her at night. I am pretty sure she is still in there, but I have to resist the urge to watch her every minute.

I am thinking I will let her go back to the coop on her own. It is easy enough to keep her back here, if that's where she chooses to stay. Probably she's sticking around because I have been giving her warm oatmeal with raisins and milk almost every day. Hospital food doesn't get any better than that!

When The Husband is here on the weekend, he may hasten her return to the coop because he does not like cleaning up the chicken poo on the garage floor, but I am hoping that she will decide to go back there on her own before then. She was at or near the bottom of the pecking order before, so it shouldn't be too much of a shake-up when she goes back, but I just hope that the hen-pecker(s) have forgotten who she is.


Good luck to all of my fellow chicken nurses!

 

[LestersFlat]

Sorry to reply to my own post, but I should have kept better watch on my red girl...she's gone! I only let her loose for about 2-and-a-half hours. When I went back out to look for her, she had disappeared, just like my other favorite red hen a few months ago.

I searched in the garage, which is where I have been keeping her for about 3 weeks. I searched out near the garden where she had previously been fenced in during the day when it's nice. And I searched in and around the coop, about 500' away from the rest. All the other chickens were back in the coop and ready to be closed up, but she is nowhere to be found. I kept searching (in the rain) until it got dark, but can't find her anywhere.

I can only hope she got disoriented after 3 weeks of being in chicken hospital, and that she'll find her way back tomorrow. But I fear the worst—that she was attacked by something, or carried off by something, never to be seen again. I am leaving the garage door open just in case, but don't have much hope. Not even my 2 not-so-chicken friendly dogs found her anywhere when I let them search.

 

[Terrik]

I'm so sorry. I hope that she does come home tomorrow. Keep us posted.

 

[MD Sand]

Oh no! Hopefully she comes around this morning!

 

[LestersFlat]

<<<This little icon must have worked—SHE'S BACK!

My husband found her on the front porch this morning. We both were out there searching up until around 9:30 pm, and she was nowhere to be found, definitely not on the porch. I left the porch light on all night, and magically there she was at 6:30 am. Tim put her back in the crate, and she laid an egg by 7:15, so I guess she was not traumatized by her night camping out in the wilderness.

Then I heard the roo crowing around 10 am, and there he is in the garage, on top of a box, telling me to set her free. So I did, again. We'll see how it goes today. I'll try not to think about it too much...and I'll try not to watch her out the window all day like I have been so far...

 

[MD Sand]

Excellent news So happy you found her, maybe she's telling you she's ready to get back out!!!

 

[LestersFlat]

She has been allowed to roam during the day, at least when it is not snowing, but she definitely does not want to go back to the coop. The Husband carried her back there this morning and she promptly followed him back to the house and the garage (the chicken hospital, her home).

She is happy to hang out with the girls and roo outside, at least the 4 SLWs who come back down our long driveway to visit with her. But when they go back toward the coop, she makes a left turn and goes back to the garage. Now, when I can't find her, she is usually hiding behind something in the garage, or looking for me on the front porch of the house.

I am thinking that we will get a few (6) chicks, something we have been thinking about, and let her raise them back here. Then we can reintegrate them all, or not, when the chicks are old enough to defend themselves. Having never done this before, does that sound like a plan? Or should we keep up with our current reintegration program and just give her more time?