Undersized 20 week old lonely pullet

[Mikep7719]

I had two 16 week old pullets which I raised, a Wyandotte and a barred rock. I put them in with my older flock of 5 RIR and white rocks, allowing them to see eachother through separate coops for a month. When I put them together the older flock kept chasing them away until the pullets were 18 weeks and I decided to separate them till they got larger. Both birds seemed undersized even when they were both 20 weeks old(current age). I could feel their keel bone very easily and sharply. So I'm not sure if it's because the birds were bullied and they couldn't eat or because they have worms. Unfortunately the Wyandotte passed away to a predator and now I'm left alone with barred and I'm not sure what to do. Should I keep her separate and try to feed her high protein diet till she is full sized? Or should I try to intergrate her with the current flock and possibly give her extra protein to her only?

 

[Sagey_7878]

If I was in your situation, I would buy another pullet to comfort your lonely pullet and they will become comfortable with each other and they will have each other when you introduce them into the main flock. You can give her extra protein ect and fatten her up, and when she is, you can introduce both pullets. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Ebony Rose]

It has been my experience that before she's fully mature will make for an easier integration. Ensure that she has plenty of hidey-holes to duck into, under, behind and out of sight to give her peace and peace of mind. Since it's the younger birds that were thin, I'm thinking a coccidia overload. These one-celled parasitic organisms are on every continent on the planet and you're likely to have more than one strain in your back yard. Your animals inadvertently ingest their eggs and the parasite as they forage, and they are not considered a real threat except for the young or the otherwise immuno-compromised adult animals. These parasites attach themselves to the intestinal walls of their victim to draw their nourishment, specifically one of the B-Vitamins. I would recommend adding Corid (amprolium) to all available water sources; it works by imitating this B-Vitamin and thus starving the coccidia of the nutrients it needs, so it starves to death. This is NOT an antibiotic, so resistance is not an issue, nor will you need to withhold the eggs from your incubation process, nor abstain from eating them. I live in the tropics, and have lots and lots of these buggers in the soil here; I treat my birds prophylactically at least once a year to reduce the organisms foothold in my flock. There should be two sets of directions on the packaging, one for prophylactic use and another dosage for 'acute' symptoms. If this were my flock, I'd treat for an acute outbreak this first time around, wait a week, run the treatment again... and then add vitamin powder supplementation to their water afterwards for a week to bring the B-Vitamins back up to normal levels in your flock.

 

[aart]

I had two 16 week old pullets which I raised, a Wyandotte and a barred rock. I put them in with my older flock of 5 RIR and white rocks, allowing them to see eachother through separate coops for a month. When I put them together the older flock kept chasing them away until the pullets were 18 weeks and I decided to separate them till they got larger. Both birds seemed undersized even when they were both 20 weeks old(current age). I could feel their keel bone very easily and sharply. So I'm not sure if it's because the birds were bullied and they couldn't eat or because they have worms. Unfortunately the Wyandotte passed away to a predator and now I'm left alone with barred and I'm not sure what to do. Should I keep her separate and try to feed her high protein diet till she is full sized? Or should I try to intergrate her with the current flock and possibly give her extra protein to her only?

I wouldn't jump right to the 'worms' conclusion...more likely they were getting bullied away from the feed.

Seeing some pics of your coop and run might garner some specific and viable suggestions.

This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

As might this:
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run. Good ways to 'clutter up' the run here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

Oh, and....Welcome to BYC! @Mikep7719
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!