If you separate them but have then close ie in an adjacent run they will get used to the new bird before you finally integrate. If possible allow them into her run while you can observe, to explore and get acquainted before you finally integrate. The other s will be far less aggressive twoards her if they "invade" her territory rather than the other way arround. There's two schools of thought on this,
1 Chuck them in at the deep end ie let them sort it out and don't intervene
2 Introduce gradually and intervene to prevent any injury
As there's only one "outsider" I think she could be bullied mercilessly so I'd prefer the second method. When there are more even numbers 1 might work OK.
Below is how to deal with chickens pecking each other and is related to your problem and may give you some insights on the behaviour you may see.
There's three reason's hens will peck each other
1 Introducing new hens to an existing flock which is established will cause the old hens to defend their territory. They will try to drive off the intruders and will protect their food and water and restrict the new birds integrating. They may fight visciously pecking and flying at the intruder with their claws. This is perfectly natural behaviour which antipeck spray won't stop. Injury can occur so the answer is to introduce them gradually, when they are finally integrated having two sets of feeding stations will prevent the food guarding behaviour. Any aggression (if any) will eventually subside.
2 Pecking order establishment. Once the new hen(s) are accepted into the flock there will be a pecking order to sort out. The hens will do this and establish an order by pecking each other and usually this isn't a dangerous or viscious process and injury rarely occurs. Establishing pecking order is a perfectly normal and natural behaviour which must occur in any healthy flock and you shouldn't use antipeck spray to attempt to suppress it. The top hen will expect all the others to defer to it and will peck the lower hens to remind them who's boss. Any kind of flamboyant behaviour such as loud crowing or wing flapping will be taken as attention seeking and an attempt to move up the pecking order and will be quickly suppressed with a few sharp pecks. Defering to the higher hen around feeders and at roost time so the top hens get their choice of roost is normal and any hen who steps out of line will usually get a sharp peck to remind her of her position. These types of reinforcing behaviours aren't usually viscious.
3 Feather eating /plucking. This is abnormal behaviour and must be cured by finding the cause and eliminating it. Usually it's to do with overcrowding, boredom, incorrect nutrition or husbandry, parasite infestation or the hens not being encouraged to be active foraging animals. Find the cause and hopefully the behaviour can be cured. If it becomes an ingrained habit there are two ways to prevent injury and break the habit, a period of separation or a beak bit which prevents feathers being plucked. Both these methods don't require antipeck spray which is a brute force technique which attacks the symptoms without tackling the underlying cause.
It's always best with any behavioural problem to use a birds natural behaviour to cure a problem rather than force them to conform to our way of behaving. A flock is a natural cooperative and letting it work as it has done for countless centuraries is best. So unless serious injury is likely to result if unchecked, it's best to let them sort it out without open intervention. Forcing them to behave in a particular unnatural way is only likely to lead to stress and further abnormal behaviour. In many years of chicken keeping I've never used antipack spray though I have very ocassionally used a beak bit on a rogue hen who has developed a feather plucking habit when other methods have failed. I've not needed to do this for several years now and I reckon knowing how to respond and use their natural behaviour to cure them is much preferable to brute force solutions.
HF
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August 16, 2009, 15:05