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How to introduce a chick to the flock...?

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silkiemelon

silkiemelon

Songster
7 Years
Apr 11, 2012
362
6
121
Washington
I got a little splash silkie for my friend as a surprise gift (her silkie just died), but the silkie ended up being a LOT smaller than I thought he/she was going to be.
Craigslist...
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Anyway, I'm going to have to keep her here with my other silkies until she is big enough to give to my friend. So I put her with my little silkies, who are around 7 weeks, and she is about 5 weeks. They are completely rejecting her, and I just don't know how to make them get along, or at least tolerate each other. They won't even let her have food or water!

Any suggestions?
 
Well at 2 or 3 weeks chickens start a pecking order so they have one and they are making sure that they dont get booted down in it by keeping her below them. Eventualy they get used to her, just make sure she gets somthing to eat and drink. And get a red light becuse if they are picking on her and she bleeds the will go crazy and kill her the red light reduses that risk. Hope that helps sorry for any grammer or spelling errors! Good luck
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I don't know if this will help or not as I'm new to raising chicks. But a girl on another site had told me she uses the "playpen" method to introduce new chicks. She basically puts them in the same area ( brooder, box, coop- wherever you have them) but separates them with a wire divider or another small coop or pet carrier. The idea is for them to be able to see each other, but not touch. Then after a few days, she opens the wire just enough for one to get through, but she doesn't force it. They can if they want, but don't have to. Every day or so you open the divider more and more until it's completely open. Also, you can put treats in there, extra roosts, branches, etc. The idea is to keep them busy so they don't pick on the newbie and to give the newbie places to hide if they do pick on her. And a farmer had told her to try and introduce the newbie at night so the others won't notice..but who knows if that actually works. Anyway, good luck to you.
 
Galefrances is coreect i have had chicks like that wen adding them to the adult coop and the older hens barley picked on them!
 
Well, I tried out the idea and, 3 days later, they accepted him!
Everyday I would just open the seperater to see how they would interact, and it just got better and better.
Now they all sleep happily together! I'm so thrilled!

(Well, they were sleeping happily till I woke them up)


The one on the far left was the little guy they used to bully.
 
We have a broody hen who is raising 6 or her 7 chicks. I had to take out the runt chick and hand feed her because this mother wasn't taking care of her. The chicks are now about 3 weeks old (will be a month old on 7/8/12). I tried to do the playpen method as mentioned earlier in this thread by putting a small wire cage in the coop so that they could all start getting familiar with each other. But the mother tries to attack the runt chick through the wire cage and is terrifying the little runt chick!!! How long is this process? I removed the cage this a.m. (it had only been 2 days). Should I try again? Please advise! Thanks!!!
 
Yes, I would try again. It took 3 days for me because all my chicks are around the same age...you're dealing with a full grown hen and a chick. It will take longer. But if she is still violent after a couple weeks, then I would stop.
 
Thanks for the help! The chicks are about the same age but I think that the runt chick is the youngest. Right after she was born, the mother wasn't taking care of her, which is why I had to remove her and hand feed her. Maybe my removing her is probably another issue that I am dealing with as well, right? I had to take her out because she could not stand on her own! I am surprised she made it this far. We will try again and see what happens.
 

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