Help with Best way to reintegrate separated poorly chicken

[bozza]

Hi everyone, a bit of help needed please! I’ve had to separate one of my hybrids, Betty, from the other four since last Thursday when my friend’s dog slipped the lead in the garden and freaked them all out. The dog didn’t get anywhere near any of the chickens but they had never seen her before and before I realised what had happened there were chickens squawking and flapping about all over the place. Poor Betty managed to get herself over the low hedge and I think came crashing down between my plant pots on the patio. Fast forward 12 hours and she was badly limping and her breathing seemed awful. I’ve had her at the vets and thankfully no fractures or dislocation and actually the breathing issue has been the biggest problem but this has now improved massively with lots of rest and tlc. My issue now is getting her slowly back in with the flock. While separating her I’ve kept her in a dog cage within the run, so the others have seen her in there the whole time. My intention was to pop her back in with them for short periods at a time, building it up as she becomes stronger. She now seems keen to free range. However, every time I pop her down two of the other just seem to go for her, one of them very aggressively went for her neck feathers within a few minutes. Betty has always been bottom of the pile pecking order wise so immediately goes submissive and doesn’t try and fight back. I’m not sure if it’s best for me to free range her alongside them but not in with them so they can get used to her again but keeping her safe or do I leave it until she’s completely better? Are the top/middle dogs just reminding her of her place in the order or could this escalate in to something nastier? I know no one has a crystal ball but from experience what is the best way to do this? I’d be grateful for any wise words! Thanks so much, Kate

 

[Marigold]

Hi Kate, where is she roosting at night? If she’s been in the cage overnight so far, you could try waiting until the others are all settled and sleepy and then quietly open the coop and pop her in on a perch among the others. Overnight she will get the smell of the flock back, which may have been changed by all the handling, trip to the vet etc, and next day she is much more likely to be accepted if they all wake up and emerge together.
You may have to wait until you’re confident her lameness is better enough for her to be able to escape if bullied a bit, which is always going to be likely to happen if she’s low in the pecking order, but it’s good to go in giving her periods to walk around so she can see the others, as you’re doing, as the exercise will help her. It’s horrible watching them picking on one of our favourites, isn’t it, but it’s just chicken nature, I’m afraid, and so long as no blood is shed, and she has room to get away and somewhere to hide, she will just have to go through it at some stage, unfortunately.
I did just wonder whether you have any foxes in your area? If you look in the Pests and Predators section, you’ll see there are several tales about foxes attacking in daylight, even whilst humans are present, and carrying off a hen under the owners nose. Far worse than being scared by a harmless dog. Is your run big enough to shut them up in when you’re out, so you know they’re safe?

 

[bozza]

Ahh, thank you Marigold! At the moment she’s sleeping at night in the dog cage as I fear that roosting overnight on the perch would be hard going on her foot/leg. Vet said it’s best to keep her on the flat while she’s limping badly. So, I guess until her lameness improves somewhat I’d better keep her caged at night, which means I need to hold off reintroducing her properly into the flock until I can get her in there at night. But that’s a great plan and, like you say, a good way to get her amongst them and get rid of these nasty human smells on her. We have created her a little run of her own today with access to everything she needs and just the other side of the netting where the others are, so they can see her and vice versa. I think I need to toughen up a bit re their natural behaviour and pecking order. Betty has always been at the bottom so is naturally submissive around the others but it’s hard to take when you’ve been nursing them back to health. Once I know she’s a bit more robust and quicker on her feet, I’ll choose the right time to pop her in with them at nighttime and let them get on with it in the morning. I’ll choose a morning that I’m off work though, just so I can make sure they’re not beating her to a pulp!! I never leave my chickens free ranging when I’m not in the garden with them. I have a big safe run so I get them in there when I’m out. Foxes are everywhere these days so I’m always cautious about their presence and they are opportunistic creatures so I always assume they’ll already know about my girls and are waiting for the right moment!! I saw one a few weeks ago on a small piece of grass really close to a busy road near the hospital in Lincoln where I work. It was at rush hour and there was traffic everywhere. Thank you again Marigold, for your advice, I’ll let you know how I get on!! best wishes to you, Kate

 

[Marigold]

That all sounds fine. Do keep in touch and let us know how she gets on. Good luck!

 

[bozza]

Hello again, just wanted to update you. On Sunday night I popped Betty in the coop on a perch behind the others once they had all settled for the night. When I got up on Monday and let them out it was almost as if nothing had happened! I saw her getting pushed away from the food and water a couple of times so I set up an extra set of each. Other than that it has all gone remarkably well! Her limp is much improved, her breathing completely normal and apart from a couple of quieter days on Monday and Tuesday when she seemed quite tired she has been foraging and doing all the normal stuff again. I'm so relieved and it's given me some extra confidence!! BIG THANKS again Marigold for your wise words, you are fabulous!! Xx

 

[Marigold]

Oh, that’s great news, well done for your patience! I’m so glad she’s better, and not being bullied.
Hens seem to have very short memories for flock members that have been absent, even for a very short while. I think that, if the bossy ones suddenly see a hen that has ‘reappeared’, they count her as a stranger and their first line of defence is to attack her. The flock structure changes very fast, and one strategy for cutting an over-bossy top hen down to size is to isolate her for 2-3 days away from the others. Almost immediately, one of the others will promote herself to the role of boss, and sort out any challenges. When the original boss is returned to the flock, she will usually be in for a shock and find she has been abruptly demoted!

But as you found, if you do the sleepover trick and they wake up together, somehow they accept the ‘stranger’ as being one of the flock, even if the top hen feels the need to lay down the ‘rules’ as a not-so- gentle reminder.

 

[Warwick Lad]

Thanks for the info on putting a bird back into the coop at night time...we've had to pop one of the girls into a large box in the kitchen as I noticed on Sat she had the odd dribble and she shook her head a couple of times.

Asked uncle Google, at first we thought she had sour crop....but after smelling her breath (which had no smell) we now think it's an impacted crop. The crop is not hard at all, but it does look & feel full....it's soft and can be massaged easily. We went to Sunday lunch at our local and when we returned she was perched on the back of a dining chair with a pooh on the table and what looked like "sick" on the floor.

The pooh was firm, the "sick" which we thought was also pooh when collected on kitchen role was runny and looked like there was grain and grit mixed in??

This morning we are going to try to empty her crop by giving her water, massaging her crop and then inverting her and keeping our fingers crossed.