Introducing rescue hen - help please!

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Becky

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Tuesday evening a chap knocked at our door asking if one of our chickens had escaped into his garden (quite a way away), in a nutshell it wasn't one of our girls and we spent a long time knocking on doors to no avail. I managed to catch her and as he would only have had to called the rspca and I brought her home. We've put a notice up to say she's been found but I've a feeling she may have just been and older girl who's stopped laying and been set free :roll: She's a light Sussex and seems in very good health apart from a one toe (will come back to that) and is eating well.

I was due to go away to visit family to next day so left her in a cat box with food & water near our girls for a few hours then put her on their perch at 10pm, I got up earlier than them the next day and all was well, however once she came out after them one of our girls squared up to her, and she did the same back, they had a little tussle and I had to separate them. We tried again later on but 2 of ours had a go at her again.

I sectioned off half of their run with wire and put her in there with food, drink, the cat box etc. not ideal but better than nothing. 4 days later she's much more settled, this morning I opened the door to her side of the run but before she came out one of our girls tried to go in and steal her corn so they had another tussle. Probably my fault as they probably both felt cornered rather than out in the open.

I've just ordered our girls new green frog coop which should arrive tomorrow so I will have a separate spare hen house for her, however would really love for them to accept her as if not I'm not sure what to do.

Does anybody have any advice about integrating her with our 4 hybrids please?

(Toe: her middle toe on one foot was a little swollen. She was holding that leg up and walking a bit odd, however she's starting to scratch around with it now and isn't limping like before. I will keep an eye on it, and take her to the vets if needs be, but as it seems a little better and I don't want to cause her even more stress right now.)
 
It's always particularly difficult to introduce one single hen to an established group. You're going about it the right way by separating her where she can see the others, but not get bullied. Also, although she's not completely quarantined, you'll be able to observe and find out if she has any underlying health problems which she might pass on to your girls (Lice? Scaley leg? Wheezing?) - not improbable, if she was indeed just dumped by someone who wanted to get rid of her. However, if she's eating well and obviously standing up for herself, she should be able to cope in a week or so, though you may find she never gets fully integrated into the previous group.
Not having a proper coop for her overnight isn't a problem at this time of year when the weather is warm, so long as she has a waterproof box to shelter in. If she's been with you for a week by the time you've got the new coop set up, then perhaps that would be a hood time to try integrating her, as it will cause some surprise and confusion to your other girls and maybe this will help to change the flock dynamic a bit to take their minds off her? Make sure they all sleep together in the coop the first night, put her in after dark, and provide extra feed and water points in the run, also as much room as possible. Of the bullying gets too bad, give her some times out, about half an hour to eat and drink and rest, but so long as no blood is shed they will just have to go through the painful process of sorting themselves out.
When did you last worm your hens? If more than 4 months ago, it would be good to do them all at the same time with Flubenvet once she joins the flock. Again, if dumped she may need this done to her.
 
Thanks so much Marigold!

They are due to be wormed about now so I'll make sure they she gets her share of Flubenvet too, just incase.

I had her out to free range a couple of times today and she met our girls, though not all at the same time. 2 of them are fine with her the other 2 are a bit more argumentative. It's a great idea about the new house, I was assuming that I should have her in one and our girls in another but it does seem like an obvious time to put her in with them.

I was a bit unsure whether I should let them sort themselves out or break up any bickering, but I'll go with letting them sort themselves out unless any blood is drawn, and just giving her a break if it gets too much. She seems to be the one making the first move sometimes, though only with 2 of the girls now.

Fingers crossed as we've both become a little attached to her now, she's been nicknamed Grumpy though she's mellowed a lot since ;)
 
Once the green frog was built we popped her in that night and she's settled in just fine. She's not constantly with our girls but in all honesty you'd think she'd always been part of the family unless you knew otherwise. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome :)
 
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