Which is worse being isolated and cold at night or risk of bullying?

[NatJ]

I think if you look for "integrating a lone hen into a flock" you'll find a few good articles/approaches. I don't claim any success, I haven't tried this, but basically if you can put the lone hen in with one of the new hens. I don't recall if it's the bottom hen or if it matters. Then, integrate an additional new hen in with those two, so in a few weeks you're integrating 2, 3-hen flocks together instead of 6 against 1.

That is good if you are worried about the 6 bullying the 1.
But I think OP has the opposite problem-- the 1 will bully all 6 of the others! So it probably makes more sense to put her with all of them at once, so she splits her attention among them and hopefully doesn't pick on any single one too much.

 

[K0k0shka]

30 degrees is not cold for a chicken. How cold do your winters get? A well-designed, well-ventilated coop is not actually warmer in the winter. It's the same as the ambient temperature outside. So you don't put chickens in the coop to keep them warm, you put them in there to protect them from rain, snow and wind. If you want more time to do a gradual integration, and want to keep her in the run longer, just give her some kind of shelter so she won't be rained/snowed/blown on. She doesn't NEED to be inside the coop. Also, she doesn't need other chickens to keep her warm. Chickens sleep next to each other in a straight line on the roost. They don't pile up on top of each other like puppies or kittens do (or baby chicks, for that matter) to keep each other warm. Their feathers provide excellent insulation, by trapping warm air in the fluffy down and then forming a shield around that with the flat external feathers. When feathers work the way they are supposed to, they don't let heat escape the shield. So there won't be any heat from one chicken going off to another to keep it warm. They keep the warmth to themselves. So having other chickens next to it, won't make the chicken any warmer itself. And any warmth exhaled with their breaths needs to be vented out, because it's laden with moisture and can condense, freeze and cause frostbite on their fleshy bits (combs and wattles). So you shouldn't count on their warm breaths heating up the coop - that would be a sign that you need more ventilation, to get that moist warm air out and keep the coop dry. Moisture is the problem in winter (whether from moist air condensing/freezing and causing frostbite, or from weather moisture in the form of rain or snow). It's not the cold itself.

 

[springvalley123]

That is good if you are worried about the 6 bullying the 1.
But I think OP has the opposite problem-- the 1 will bully all 6 of the others! So it probably makes more sense to put her with all of them at once, so she splits her attention among them and hopefully doesn't pick on any single one too much.

I agree! I admit that was a foreign concept to me, I'm used to having roughly equal amounts, as apparently, were the people in the articles I tried to point out. I hadn't seen anything similar to the OP's situation. Curious to see how it turns out.

 

[nurse mama]

Is there a way to make a separate area for her in the coop, so she can be near the other girls but out of reach for nighttime?

I love that idea and have been noodling just that thought for days. I just can't figure out what to put into the way between them that they won't just jump on top of and get my hen anyway. I've considered putting a wooden cutting board between them on a hinge or I can lower it when they want to get up there and "hinge" it up afterwards. The hubby is quite handy lol. I just hope they don't hop up on the end of it and hop down to get her. Anyone have a better idea? I 'm listening. Thank you in advance!

 

[springvalley123]

I love that idea and have been noodling just that thought for days. I just can't figure out what to put into the way between them that they won't just jump on top of and get my hen anyway. I've considered putting a wooden cutting board between them on a hinge or I can lower it when they want to get up there and "hinge" it up afterwards. The hubby is quite handy lol. I just hope they don't hop up on the end of it and hop down to get her. Anyone have a better idea? I 'm listening. Thank you in advance!

since it's out of the elements, cardboard, even some corrugated plastic, should work. You could zip tie it or bungie it in place.