What do you think about integration idea??

[hickchick55]

I have an injured hen that I have been caring for and she is doing very well -enough that I just caught her coming up the basement stairs. Her flock doesn't want anything to do with her and she is lonely. I don't believe I can get her back in the coop before the impending winter, so I was thinking of making her a pen in the barn and trying to get one of the other hens to stay with her there until spring, when hopefully they can be integrated back in the flock. What do you think? I realize now that I should probably have culled her the day of the injury- would have saved me a lot of stress- but it's too late now for that. Thanks for your ideas.

 

[UrbanFarmerGreg]

Why is it you don't think you can get her back in before the impending weather?

 

[hickchick55]

Quote:
Because she is not 100% yet and they want to kill her. I have to get her out of my basement though!

 

[UrbanFarmerGreg]

OK... you probably shouldn't put her in until she is 100%. maybe the barn idea is a good one, if you let your chickens free range then she should be fine to free range with the others during the day and just seperate her when they go in at night... If you don't free range then maybe putting a 'friend' in with her would be a good idea

 

[hickchick55]

They do free range but a couple of them chase her down and try to hurt her. I raised them all together and there was never even a cross word before, so it is sad.

 

[UrbanFarmerGreg]

Hmmm... I wish I had more/better suggestions. I am fairly new to raising poultry so hopefully somebody more experienced can give you a better more experienced suggestion... good luck

 

[dretd]

I have had to re-integrate a sick hen before and what worked best for me was to pull the offending grumpy girls out of the flock so they wouldn't pick on the recovering one and I put the two mean girls in a crate for a couple of days. This allowed the sickie to get back in to the swing of things and gain confidence and a place in the flock without harrassment. It also disrupts the pecking order.

Interestingly the mean girls were from the middle to low end of the pecking order. I then reintroduced the mean girls with supervision. It is possible that if your other one still appears injured the others may continually pick on her, though, so do keep an eye on the situation.

You can also put visual barriers in the run such as hay bales or large flower pots so the injured one will have a place to hide and hang out away from the mean girls. And maybe put in a flock block so the girls have something to pick at besides the injured one.

A pen in the barn would be a great back-up and I like the idea of putting a friend in with her so she won't get lonely.

 

[hickchick55]

Pulling the mean girls wasn't something that I thought about. The worst offender seems to be her former best bud and also one of the smallest ones. Good food for thought. I appreciate the reply.