Help needed over badly attacked chicken

[henry]

Hi Everyone,
i really need some help with one of my chickens. My son brought home a grey bantam that was in full molt. I kept her seperate for two & half weeks to settle in and help her new feathers to grow in. This was in a large rabbit hutch next to the coop so all my other could see her and get used to her, i would let her out into a wire run to get closer and there where no problems. i started to let her out after that with the others no problems. So a couple of nights ago i put her in with the others at night. The next morning she was in a corner and the other had ripped out all of her new feathers, making her bleed from numerous places. I put her back into the hutch with a big wire fence around, but one of my hens a light sussex is walking backwards and forwards around the fence trying to get through, even sticking her head through the bars and getting stuck. I know chickens have the pecking order but this actually scary to watch, as the try every avanue to get in.
Can anyone please Help.
Thank You
Henry

 

[Marigold]

You've done right to separate her now she's injured, and indeed you did right to gradually let them all get used to each other before introducing her at night. Unfortunately it's always very difficult to integrate just one new bird, especially if she's in moult and is a smaller breed than the others. Her lack of feathers will make her more vulnerable to pecking, I'm afraid, and you will have to keep her apart until she has feathered up fully, as well as healing her injuries completely, as otherwise the other girls will repeat their attacks. You could spray her wounds with purple antiseptic stuff, or use antibiotic powder on them. It would be good either to put in a second mesh fence to make sure the Sussex can't get to her, or maybe to reinforce the fence with a smaller or more rigid mesh so she can't even get her head through. She has to be kept safe form them, but needs to be in sight of the flock so they go on recognising her. With luck, things would gradually calm down as she heals up.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if you had been able to get her another small companion, they would probably have made friends during their quarantine period and supported each other when eventually introduced. If you do this now, when she has been living with you for over two weeks, she may well not welcome a newcomer to her pen, and in any case you couldn't risk a second bird pecking her wounds. As shes in heavy moult, shes probably not feeling at her best anyway, and thus was unable to appear fully confident on her own in a flock of bigger hens. I don't know how much space you have, but probably the best way out of the dilemma would be to let her heal up, then put her in a run divided in half by mesh, and try introducing a second bantam to her that way. When you have integrated these two, you could then try adding them to the flock with the bigger hens. I've always found that newbies bond for life when they spend a couple of weeks together, and having someone else to watch your back in the run is a big help to them. Always provide multiple feeders and drinkers when new ones are being introduced, and places to hide. If the new ones are young and agile, ie not laying yet, they appreciate perches which they can fly up to, wheas the older more sedate hens don't bother. Space is also an issue, the newcomers do better if there's plenty of room for them to run away.

 

[VALBURNHAM]

Once she has healed and her feathers grown back you could always try moving the Light Sussex from the others as she appears to be the bully. Keep her in the other run so the little one has time to get established as part of the group before returning the bully this could take up to a week. When you return the bully she would have lost her place at the top of the pecking order.