Sick hen - any advice appreciated

Ruby's hanging in there. She's still wheezing but doesn't seem to be gasping as much and seems more alert. That has me back to thinking respiratory rather than gapeworm. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing and see how she does. I know she wouldn't have made it this far without all the advice from each of you, so thank you!
 
I'm so excited! I put down a bowl of apple & banana baby food tonight and she immediately started eating it. She's wheezing more loudly as she's eating, so it's clearly still taxing her, but she's eating! Go Ruby Red Leg!
 
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Thanks! She keeps getting stronger. Tonight I came home to this:

So I guess she's feeling better. There was a nice big pile of poop under her too, so I guess she's got that figured out too. :)

I thought that if she was well enough to fly out of a deep bucket to roost on the edge, then she was well enough to go back to the coop, so I put her out, but she was immediately attacked (my, the pecking order is a fickle thing!) and it was cold. She started wheezing with the exertion, so I brought her inside again and put a baby gate over the top of the bucket.

Any suggestions on easing her reintegration into the flock?
 
To reintegrate what the best method for me was supervising over her activity. I have a little quail d'anver which is like a tiny baby and falls asleep I your hands and when it came time to introduce her, it took a lot of time due to the fact that your flock might see her as foreign.

So when your outside with them let her play with you watching, if you see aggression building up, protect her. And from there the flock should get it. It's never a good idea to just let her find her way by letting her go in by herself and get beaten up. Resulting in a lower flock rank.

Hope this helped.
-Malik
 
Do you have a small pen that you can put her in inside the coop and move her outside when the flock goes out? This could be used for a few days, or a plastic temporary fence inside the coop. Maybe a low ranking friend could even be added. It is easier to re-introduce 2 than 1. Doing it outside where she can get away might be wise also. Chickens can be meanies some time.
 
Yep I have 8x 2x2x2 Box Homes which are cages for my hens who are broody, sick, or bullied upon. Yep do it outside when they are all out is a great way to introduce. Especially since they can chase and she can run away. But it will take up to 2 days of constant close chicken interaction between the flock and her to get her accustomed to the others.

The weird thing about my hens is that they accept new hens who are of the the same or larger size super quickly. But I have a problem introducing little bantam hens.

I wouldn't pen her in a place inside the coop because there will be the curious hens who will challenge her, and it will result in her possibly injuring herself but you could just see how it goes. Add in a friend which could help a lot like you said.

Yes my chickens can be meanies as well but then they figure it out in chicken language. Lol
 
Thanks for the advice. I have a rabbit run, so will lock her in there at night and let her roam with the other girls during the day. I really don't want to add another hen, so will just keep an eye on them while they work it out. She was top of the pecking order before this illness, so I'm sure she'll work her way back up again.
 
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I put her out this morning and she started gasping again, even though she's been fine inside. Do you think it's just the exertion and/or stress? She's also sneezed a couple of times out there. What to do?

ETA: She's not gasping nearly as badly, and as soon as she's alone and not being bothered, the gasping reduces. I also put Vet RX on her nostrils which seems to really help. So I guess my question is, do I just let it run its course?
 
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