Traumatized Hen Is Isolating Herself

[Crowwbird]

I have a bantem adult hen named Peaches that has been injured in the past. We have a large coop and run, with around 12 more hens and one rooster. She was put into the coop too young on accident and was forced outside where she had lodged herself between some logs during a storm and ended up tearing off a wing. We kept her inside for the time, which was meant to be temporary as we waited for her death, but that day never came! As her broken wing healed, and we kept her inside for about 3 months where we took care of her and gave her lots of attention until she became very friendly. Once her wing healed we decided to put her back into the coop where she would be happy. We originally had three larger full sized chickens, but we segregated them from our coop because they could seriously do damage to our one winged chicken. We kept her in a small dog kennel for about 3 days to get used to the others, and then we let her free. The problem we are facing now, is that although Peaches is in the coop she will not leave to explore the run or bond with the other chickens. She would not go outside to find the food and water. We put a small chicken and water feeder in the coop for her, but she does not bond with any of the other hens and they seem to pick on her and peck her constantly. She does not defend herself and I'm scared that she will not beable to become a member of the flock. When the hens go inside the coop to nest, they peck her a little but tend to leave her be. However today I decided to take her out the coop and put her out in the run hoping that maybe she just didn't know where everyone went, but the other chickens pecked her constantly and she ran around the run and eventually back into the coop. Now that the weather is heating up i fear she will get hot in the coop and lonely. How to I help peaches become a member of the flock and prevent her from isolating herself?

 

[fldiver97]

Do you have another chicken that is close to her size and mild tempered? Maybe having her get used to one member of the flock first and then slowly reintroduce everyone with supervision?

 

[Crowwbird]

Do you have another chicken that is close to her size and mild tempered? Maybe having her get used to one member of the flock first and then slowly reintroduce everyone with supervision?

Yes we do, she's actually surprisingly big compared to the other hens. She's even larger than the rooster, but she still runs away from all the other chickens and hides herself from the coop. I'll definitely begin to slowly introduce her to the other chickens however!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

he problem we are facing now, is that although Peaches is in the coop she will not leave to explore the run or bond with the other chickens. She would not go outside to find the food and water. We put a small chicken and water feeder in the coop for her, but she does not bond with any of the other hens and they seem to pick on her and peck her constantly. She does not defend herself and I'm scared that she will not beable to become a member of the flock. When the hens go inside the coop to nest, they peck her a little but tend to leave her be. However today I decided to take her out the coop and put her out in the run hoping that maybe she just didn't know where everyone went, but the other chickens pecked her constantly and she ran around the run and eventually back into the coop. Now that the weather is heating up i fear she will get hot in the coop and lonely. How to I help peaches become a member of the flock and prevent her from isolating herself?

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.
Sometimes even with slow integration she may not be fully accepted and be an outcast.
Do you have space to section off a portion of run for her, so she can be outside near the others, but they can get to her? Try that if possible.