Single hen not accepted

[Moonwspr]

Hello everyone. My neighbor offered to have 1 of her hens set some eggs for me this spring. Of the 4 I gave her, only 2 hatched and 1 is a rooster (and has been rehomed). So I am left with a single adolescent hen that looks nothing like the others (dad is a mixed breed) and she is being attacked relentlessly. After 2 weeks in a large dog crate inside their run (kept in small dog crate inside the coop), I still am not seeing even the slightest signs of acceptance.
I have "borrowed" 2 adolescent hens from the same neighbor in hopes that would diversify the aggressive behavior. Not much luck there either.
My next attempt will be to divide the run and place 1 adult hen in with the 3 adolescent...anyone have any other ideas on how to get her acclimated to the group?

 

[Mrs. K]

A lot depends on your set up and number of other birds. I would lock the old girls out of the run and let them free range, let the adolescents have the run and coop to explore without being chased. Do this for two or three days, letting the old girls in as close to dark as you dare. Putting the adolescents in like you have.

Day 3 or 4, add one or two of your older flock. You do not want the bottom or the top of the pecking order, you want the middle girls. Walk away from them, drop down some treat. You don't want the first girls or the last girls to get the treats. Put one or two girls to the adolescents in the run. There will be bluster, but it should settle pretty quick. Keep these together for a couple of days.

Day 6, keep all of them together, now at this point you may have an old biddy that is just heartless. If so, she and her friend if she has one, they go in the dog pen. Wait a couple more days.

Then it should have settled, if not, move the means ones out of sight of the coop for a few days.

Adding a lot of clutter to the run is also very helpful. It makes use of vertical space and lets birds get away from each other. Add roosts, pallets, anything they can get on, get under, get behind and out of sight or reach can really help. Put multiple feed bowls so that birds eating at one, can't see birds eating at others.

If they still won't go together - you may have to remove some birds from this flock.

Mrs K

 

[LaFleche]

My next attempt will be to divide the run and place 1 adult hen in with the 3 adolescent...anyone have any other ideas on how to get her acclimated to the group?

This is a good way to start the integration, but young pullets will not be fully accepted by the adults until they start laying.
So giving her two adolescents of her same age for company will allow them to form their own sub flock until they start to lay.

When you finally have them all together, provide several feeders and water dispensers well out of sight of each other so none of the adult birds can hog the feed and starve the youngsters.

 

[Moonwspr]

A lot depends on your set up and number of other birds. I would lock the old girls out of the run and let them free range, let the adolescents have the run and coop to explore without being chased. Do this for two or three days, letting the old girls in as close to dark as you dare. Putting the adolescents in like you have.

Day 3 or 4, add one or two of your older flock. You do not want the bottom or the top of the pecking order, you want the middle girls. Walk away from them, drop down some treat. You don't want the first girls or the last girls to get the treats. Put one or two girls to the adolescents in the run. There will be bluster, but it should settle pretty quick. Keep these together for a couple of days.

Day 6, keep all of them together, now at this point you may have an old biddy that is just heartless. If so, she and her friend if she has one, they go in the dog pen. Wait a couple more days.

Then it should have settled, if not, move the means ones out of sight of the coop for a few days.

Adding a lot of clutter to the run is also very helpful. It makes use of vertical space and lets birds get away from each other. Add roosts, pallets, anything they can get on, get under, get behind and out of sight or reach can really help. Put multiple feed bowls so that birds eating at one, can't see birds eating at others.

If they still won't go together - you may have to remove some birds from this flock.

Mrs K

Thanks, I will have to find ways to implement some of these practices as I cannot let them free range without supervision due to high coyote population in our area and 30+ acres of woods/brush. I dont have any means of re-situating birds away from the coop...not without building another complete area. Removing birds would not make sense since all are about 1.5 yrs old. No point removing 1 or 2 for the sake of 1. I appreciate the advice and will see how I can configure it to fit my situation.

 

[Mrs. K]

As I said, a lot depends on your set up.

Adding pictures of your set up, really can help people understand and give better advice.