New chicken, unhappy, please help.

[neontetra]

Hi all, new on here and wonderimg if any of you lovely chicken ladies could help.
We have rehomed a chicken who was apparently the subject of much unwanted male attention at her last home. Her back is pecked bare in places, poor thing. We have one other quiet chicken (our other died recently, sadly). Since she got here, the new one either hides inside, or when out squawks continuously and very raucously. She just doesn't seem right. Any shared experience of this or ideas for cheering her up greatly appreciated!

Give her a few days and she will be fine. They are always like that until they get used to each other

i agree -they're just getting used to each other.

if you notice pecking, though, buy some purple spray (that's its name, you can get it from farm shops and horse shops or online, of course!) to stop it.

Thank you. She is calmer now, I think. Is there anything I could get to put on her back where all the feathers are gone? It looks sore. Would the purple spray help, or does that just stop pecking? Thanks for the advice - am fairly new to chickens as I'm sure you can tell.

they'll grow back quite quickly now she's not being serviced constantly.
look out for spiky white tubes: they then sprout paintbrushes and become feathers in time.
:)

The purple spray is gentian violet. It's an antiseptic but also hides the skin or a cut/blood. If the birds see a sore or bare skin then they will peck it. The gentian violet obscures either the skin or the sore so they leave it alone. (wear gloves and old clothes when using it though!)

To stop them pecking in a bullying context, you can buy a spray called Scarper or you can spray their tails with vinegar.

I agree that she will settle down after a week or so. Stick with it