Trouble getting rehabilitated chicken back into the group?

[Crazychickensinsummit]

Chickens have a natural pecking order & literally pack each other apart a lot of the time!? What is the best way to get them to stop doing this especially when returning one from healing injuries?

 

[Lovem all]

Is this in theory or do you need help rn?

 

[Crazychickensinsummit]

Is this in theory or do you need help rn?

This is the problem that we're having, can you help?

 

[Missbumblebee]

I'm having the same problem. The hens have pecked one of my hens, I took her out to heal then the last couple days I've tried putting her back in and 2 hens run after her pecking her again poor thing runs and tries to hide. I would appreciate any help with this.

 

[Lovem all]

does she have a friend or buddy or even a nicer chicken? the pecking order is hard to mess with but i'd start with a see no touch area. Also @crazychickensinsumit how were they injured? Also @Missbumblebee do you know why your girl was attacked in the first place?

 

[Lovem all]

Oh and how long have they been gone?

 

[lbgreenfield]

Hi. I know how frustrating this can be, I just integrated a new flock of 8 pullets into my existing flock of 5 older hens. This same process can be used for integrating a recovered-from-injury hen back into the existing flock as well. Here's what I did and what's usually recommended:

1. If you have space available in your coop or run, create a "Look But Don't Touch" pen area for the hen/hens. In my 32ft by 16ft run, we sectioned off a back corner of it for the new little ones (see photos). The little ones were fully protected by fencing, but could still see the older hens in the remainder of the run. In the evenings, I would let the older hens out, close up the run and then let the little ones run around the entire coop/run space to get used to it. The little ones were in their Look-But-Don't-Touch pen for about 4 weeks.

2. If you don't have space available, you can try and get an XL dog crate and put it in your coop/run. Same idea as Item #1, but on a smaller scale. I had to do this earlier this Spring when my Buff was being reintegrated due to a leg injury.

3. After a few weeks of being separated but still visible to each other, we were ready to integrate everyone. I first let out the older hens into the yard, my husband baited them with treats to a neutral space in our yard. Then I let the little ones out and they came over to where the treats were being dispensed. We closely watched over them for any serious fighting, feather pulling, etc. While my husband was dolling out treats, I had a high power squirt bottle to blast anyone who got too rough. We did this every day for a week, changing to a different spot in our yard every time.

4. After that, it was time to full integrate into the pen. We first let the little ones out first into the run, followed by the older ones. Husband was again dishing out treats and I was manning the squirt bottle. We still kept the baby area accessible to the little ones in case of an escape and had plenty of hiding areas for the little ones. We also put down piles of grass clippings and mulched leaves to add to the distraction.

5. After that, we just monitored as needed. They all pretty much got along, there was some obvious pecking order squabbles, but for the most part, it went pretty smoothly. If there was a bully chicken, we punished her by putting her in a small milk crate for an hour or two and then released her. It seemed to do the trick.

Hope that helps you, let me know if you have any other questions, I'll be happy to help!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Take your smallest, nicest chicken and put it into the recovery area with the sick/injured chicken for a week.
Then move the pair out into a cage or pen inside the rest of the flocks area for a week where they can all see each other but not touch one another.
Then stick the two outside birds on the roost bar at night.
Make sure there's at least 2 feeders/waterers in the pen the next morning when you let them out.

There will be some fussing but they won't rip eachother apart.

 

[Crazychickensinsummit]

does she have a friend or buddy or even a nicer chicken? the pecking order is hard to mess with but i'd start with a see no touch area. Also @crazychickensinsumit how were they injured? Also @Missbumblebee do you know why your girl was attacked in the first place?

We had 2 chickens at one point that were badly bullied & both had to be taken out & rehabilitated 'til they healed, which usually took a while & then by the time they were ready & healed enough to go back into the coop, it's as if the other chickens didn't remember who they were? Not sure what a chickens memory is like or if it was just the pecking order thing all over again? However with the help of Utube videos & suggestions we tried using a water bottle sprayer to spray at the ones who were going back to attacking & bullying again. It worked some to a degree, but after a while certain chickens would just keep at it anyway as soon as we stepped away since we can't stay there 24/7 constantly watching over them. Usually it would be a Long Island Red chicken or one of the Leg Horn chickens even pecking at one of its own kind? After a while the Leg Horn that was still being bullied after being re-introduced was finally excepted back in & left alone. However we've also noticed that for a while only the white eggs from the Long Horn were being destroyed & eaten!? That kept up for a while, but lately they haven't been doing it anymore, we're not sure why.
we don't really sell our eggs anyway, so it's not that big of a deal, but we still hope to keep them from being destroyed. We do give them added crushed oyster shells to give them the calcium they might be craving & we use to give them a Large "busy block" to peck away at so as not to focus so much on destroying any more eggs. But some times every now & then they still go back to destroying just the white eggs
Well to get back to the chickens pecking at eachother, even though they seem to have finally excepted the other white chicken, they still kept bullying our Americana chicken & pecked all her feathers off of her back leaving it raw & bloody looking, & this was after she had just returned from having her back healed prior to this & now we're having to do it all over again!?
we just can't continue "hospitalizing" our chickens every time they beat up on each other & then go back to struggling to get them to except each other all over again, each time this happens!? There must be a better way? This is becoming very monotimus. How do we re-introduce rehabilitated chickens & keep them safe?

 

[Lovem all]

@Crazychickensinsummit Okay here is a bit of an odd idea I never tried before. I still think you should do a see no touch pen for a few days but then switch out the injured for biggest bullies and keep the bullies out of the picture for a few days