How soon to properly reintroduce a chicken?

[Athenaeum]

So, hi! I am here to ask how soon would be too soon for a proper reintroduction for my hen, Latias, back into the flock? She was separated due to frostbite injuries that resulted in the loss of her toes on one foot and from the metatarsus down on her other leg.

She's healed amazingly, to the point we are now able to have her outside full time, but we haven't been able to do more than a reintroduction via her in a large dog kennel that she's been snoozing in at night.

We worry that the others will attack her once they see she's limping. Which, was something that was happening when we did too early of an introduction when she and her siblings were chicks.

 

[Mrs. K]

You don't introduce her to the whole flock at once. And even though she at one time was in the coop/run, she has not been there for a long period of time, so that is strange to her. And she is strange to the group.

So first, I would let the others out into your backyard, lock the injured one in the coop/run, feed both along the fence. At night, put her where you have had her, let the others back in, do it again on day two.

Day three - keep ONE of the hens in with her. Now this is apt to be a dust up, but one on one, it should settle quickly. Try and pick a middle of the hen flock, not the bottom, not the top. If you pick one that does not give up, pull that bird and try another. Keep this pair together day and night in the run/coop and the others outside.

Depending on how many birds you have - once this pair is getting along pretty consistently, you can add another from the flock, to the pair.

Or you can just let everyone out in the yard, in the late afternoon, and if they all go to roost together, you are golden.

Sometimes you will just get a meanie, if so, put her in the cage that you have for a couple of days, letting the rest of the flock meld a bit.

Mrs K

 

[Athenaeum]

Oh, thank you! I know my husband mentioned likely having her interact with her sister Gwen, although she might be the bottom of the pecking order for my hens, or with our relatively friendly hen Artemis first?

The issue is that we can't really free range the others? We had almost a whole flock disappear our first year when we tried that briefly. But I can talk with my husband about setting up, like, a second run just for interactions between the ladies?

 

[Mrs. K]

I have had a flock mostly disappear - and it is heartbreaking. A lot depends on your set up. Send some pictures, maybe I can see something.

A big problem I often see, is that people put a strange bird in a cage in the run. What they don't see, is that bird is kept to that space, and seeing a space, and being in a space is two different things. So I have had very good luck, letting a bird explore the coop and run, find the water, the hideouts, the different feed bowls all without being chased for her life.

This seems to give them territorial rights. Think of being in your own home. Now imagine, walking into your neighbors house...you don't really belong there... that is how a chicken feels, and worse, the others chickens are sure she doesn't belong there too. Where as if they see her in there, they get used to it.

Mrs K