Should i get new friends for my blind pullet?

[It_is_I_Rae]

Hi everyone, I have a blind pullet named Pipsqueak. I have 3 other pullets her age as well and up until now they have been her flock and they've gotten along fine. However, I've been keeping her in the house with me during cold nights and for a full day or two when the days were nasty because we had a cold snap where I live and I was worried that since she is special needs that she's more fragile and wouldn't handle it as well as the others. I put her back in with them yesterday and they've started bullying her. I feel awful because it's probably my fault for keeping her away from them. They didn't hurt her badly or anything and it seems like normal picking on chickens lower in the pecking order behavior but poor Pipsqueak is terrified of them now and I don't want the extra stress on her. I'm wondering if I should just separate her from the others for good and get her a silkie or two as a companion or if I should try to re-intagrate her. I'm afraid they'll stress her to death or keep her from the food and water.

I should probably note that she's currently in the house with me again, I didn't leave her out in the coop alone after finding out how bad they scared her.

 

[azygous]

No. Getting her a new friend would place her in the same situation you are trying to save her from. Best to reintegrate her.

Chickens don't have close friends like we humans have. They have a flock and being in the flock gives a chicken security. However, within the flock is a constant shifting of social ranks. Each chicken has a rank, and it is in relation to the rank of every other chicken. If you remove a chicken from the flock, everyone's rank then shifts. If you add a new chicken to the flock, everyone's rank shifts. When you removed her from the flock, everyone's rank shifted. When you returned your blind chicken to her flock, everyone's rank shifted again. See how stressful this is?

Most of us old timers who've been keeping flocks for many years do not remove a sick or disabled chicken from the flock unless there is danger of contagious disease. Instead, we have a safe enclosure within the run where she can hang out if she needs a break from the flock for any reason. This way, she never leaves the flock and nothing changes.

A blind chicken, and I have one of my own in my flock, is not fragile. She just has special needs. The cold won't affect her any differently than other chickens as long as she is fit and well. Returning her to her flock will involve a brief moment of conflict as everyone adjusts their rank again. Stand by to intervene if it goes any further than just a flurry of wings and a peck on the head. Then everything should calm right down and everyone will then carry on as if she's never left.

 

[It_is_I_Rae]

No. Getting her a new friend would place her in the same situation you are trying to save her from. Best to reintegrate her.

Chickens don't have close friends like we humans have. They have a flock and being in the flock gives a chicken security. However, within the flock is a constant shifting of social ranks. Each chicken has a rank, and it is in relation to the rank of every other chicken. If you remove a chicken from the flock, everyone's rank then shifts. If you add a new chicken to the flock, everyone's rank shifts. When you removed her from the flock, everyone's rank shifted. When you returned your blind chicken to her flock, everyone's rank shifted again. See how stressful this is?

Most of us old timers who've been keeping flocks for many years do not remove a sick or disabled chicken from the flock unless there is danger of contagious disease. Instead, we have a safe enclosure within the run where she can hang out if she needs a break from the flock for any reason. This way, she never leaves the flock and nothing changes.

A blind chicken, and I have one of my own in my flock, is not fragile. She just has special needs. The cold won't affect her any differently than other chickens as long as she is fit and well. Returning her to her flock will involve a brief moment of conflict as everyone adjusts their rank again. Stand by to intervene if it goes any further than just a flurry of wings and a peck on the head. Then everything should calm right down and everyone will then carry on as if she's never left.

Ok then, I'll try to re-intagrate her. Like I said though, it's not that they're actually harming her badly except for some injuries to the comb, but she's terrified of them. She's running into walls trying to get away from them and today she was so scared that she somehow managed to squeeze through a gap in the chicken wire separating the pullet's area of the coop from the main flock and I found her hiding under the stepstool used to keep the waterer off the ground. I'm afraid she's going to be too stressed out and I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself.

 

[azygous]

This is normal for a hen returning to the flock after being away a few days. It's even more terrifying for your blind hen because she can't see the others and take measure of their intent. We humans are going through something similar with everyone wearing masks and we can't judge intent and pick up on other facial expressions for clues we need for social interaction. Chickens read faces, too, so a blind chicken has this handicap.

Is your hen totally blind? No vision at all, even in one eye?

You will need to ease her back into the flock gradually. Do you have a pet carrier? It needs to be small enough to where your hen can sense all four walls and feel secure. Place her in the crate with food and water and then place the crate in the run against a wall or fence so that she's only exposed to the flock on one side of the crate. Stay and watch to be sure she isn't going to go berserk and hurt herself. If she is agitated, place your hand lightly on her back and head and make a shhhh-ing sound. This will calm her. Don't give up. You need to get her back into her flock.

Once you see everyone is calm, leave her in the crate for the rest of the day. Then when night comes, take her out of the crate and let her sleep with the others however she's used to doing. This should be safe as chickens generally are more intent on settling in to sleep rather than making trouble. But referee if you need to. Once it's totally dark, the chickens will be unable to make trouble. Waking up together should reestablish that she is still part of the flock as she always was.

Once she's back, don't remove her again.

 

[It_is_I_Rae]

This is normal for a hen returning to the flock after being away a few days. It's even more terrifying for your blind hen because she can't see the others and take measure of their intent. We humans are going through something similar with everyone wearing masks and we can't judge intent and pick up on other facial expressions for clues we need for social interaction. Chickens read faces, too, so a blind chicken has this handicap.

Is your hen totally blind? No vision at all, even in one eye?

You will need to ease her back into the flock gradually. Do you have a pet carrier? It needs to be small enough to where your hen can sense all four walls and feel secure. Place her in the crate with food and water and then place the crate in the run against a wall or fence so that she's only exposed to the flock on one side of the crate. Stay and watch to be sure she isn't going to go berserk and hurt herself. If she is agitated, place your hand lightly on her back and head and make a shhhh-ing sound. This will calm her. Don't give up. You need to get her back into her flock.

Once you see everyone is calm, leave her in the crate for the rest of the day. Then when night comes, take her out of the crate and let her sleep with the others however she's used to doing. This should be safe as chickens generally are more intent on settling in to sleep rather than making trouble. But referee if you need to. Once it's totally dark, the chickens will be unable to make trouble. Waking up together should reestablish that she is still part of the flock as she always was.

Once she's back, don't remove her again.

Yeah, she's pretty much totally blind, I think she can tell light from dark and see shadows but that's it. Thank you so much for the information. And yes, I actually do have a small pet carrier I can put in the coop for her. I'll do that then.

 

[azygous]

Please let us all know how it goes.