Hey all,
We have three hens and one recently had a run-in with dad's new dachshund puppy... Otto (the pup) nosed his way into the coop and was in the middle of shaking the heck out of one of our barred rocks before we were able to get there and break it up. It was one heck of a racket, but both Otto and Marley (the hen) survived the ordeal. We isolated Marley for a couple of days in a dog kennel in our garage to make sure she was going to come around- one of her eyes remained shut for a day or so and she had some blood under one wing, but has seemingly recovered from her ordeal.
Now we have tried to re-introduce her to the other two birds- Ganesh, a larger barred rock, and Penny, an ameraucana. Ganesh has been leaving her alone, but Penny, who was lowest in the pecking order before this incident, has been flexing her new-found promotion in the order and will not leave Marley (the recovered one) alone.
I tried originally putting Marley out with the other two in the yard, and when the birds were foraging around, they would mostly leave her alone, but as soon as they got close, Penny would attack Marley. So we ended up keeping Marley in the garage for another day to be sure she was strong enough to handle any harassment she might have to endure, and I put her in the coop last night in the dark while the other birds were asleep. First thing this morning, we heard the racket and squawking of Marley being beat up on again.
I am thinking that Penny is just trying to reorganize our small flock's pecking order, and hoping that this will all blow over in time, but I wanted to reach out to this great community to see if anyone has any suggestions for re-introduction of a bird into the flock. I am hoping that after a day or two Penny will just leave her alone, but I don't want to risk her killing Marley if there is a "best" way to get them back together.
Thanks for any suggestions!
B
We have three hens and one recently had a run-in with dad's new dachshund puppy... Otto (the pup) nosed his way into the coop and was in the middle of shaking the heck out of one of our barred rocks before we were able to get there and break it up. It was one heck of a racket, but both Otto and Marley (the hen) survived the ordeal. We isolated Marley for a couple of days in a dog kennel in our garage to make sure she was going to come around- one of her eyes remained shut for a day or so and she had some blood under one wing, but has seemingly recovered from her ordeal.
Now we have tried to re-introduce her to the other two birds- Ganesh, a larger barred rock, and Penny, an ameraucana. Ganesh has been leaving her alone, but Penny, who was lowest in the pecking order before this incident, has been flexing her new-found promotion in the order and will not leave Marley (the recovered one) alone.
I tried originally putting Marley out with the other two in the yard, and when the birds were foraging around, they would mostly leave her alone, but as soon as they got close, Penny would attack Marley. So we ended up keeping Marley in the garage for another day to be sure she was strong enough to handle any harassment she might have to endure, and I put her in the coop last night in the dark while the other birds were asleep. First thing this morning, we heard the racket and squawking of Marley being beat up on again.
I am thinking that Penny is just trying to reorganize our small flock's pecking order, and hoping that this will all blow over in time, but I wanted to reach out to this great community to see if anyone has any suggestions for re-introduction of a bird into the flock. I am hoping that after a day or two Penny will just leave her alone, but I don't want to risk her killing Marley if there is a "best" way to get them back together.
Thanks for any suggestions!
B