8 week old hatched silkie afraid of the flock

[QueenDM]

Hi there. I am new here. I have 3 hens and a rooster and now an 8 week baby. 2 of the hens believed she was her baby. They both laid on the egg and then took care of her up until 6 weeks old. One Mom left at 5 weeks and the other 6 weeks. She was introduced to the flock at 4 weeks with both moms and fit right in. For the last week and a half she has been afraid of the flock and now the so called moms even peck at her. She stays away from them during the day, they are free range backyard chickens. She runs away whenever they come near her. She slept in the coop on the roost a handful of times but they picked at her this week and she fights me now to go in. She stays out won’t go in on her own and now she is sleeping in my house on a chair because they peck her and I’m afraid they are going to hurt her during the night. Am I being ridiculous? Will
She ever fit in? Not be afraid of the flock? They don’t hurt her during the day just run her off from food etc. They peck at her at night which is why she hasn’t slept in the coop this week. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[aart]

This is the problem with single chicks.
Are the other birds silkies too?
Is it only the 'moms' that are pecking the chick?
Normal weaning behavior.

How big is your coop, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics might help here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

This is pretty normal behavior. There are two different things at work here. First is normal integration, where the rest of the flock accept the chicken's right to live in the area. They don't go out of the way to kill it like they might a stranger. You should have achieved that with the hen's raising it at least part of the time with the flock. I let mine raise them with the flock from hatch but a couple of weeks should have been enough,

The second part is the pecking order. If there is a difference in maturity, a more mature chicken outranks a less mature chicken and is usually not shy about pecking it if it invades their personal space. As long as the immature one stays away the others tend to leave it alone. But if it gets too close it might get pecked. They usually learn to stay away from the others. Sounds like that is exactly what has happened with your chick.

That's why how much room you have in feet or meters in your coop and in your run is important. When that space is available is also important, it doesn't help to have a huge run if they can't get to it. So what do you have to work with?

To make it worse, chickens are social animals. They like to be with other chickens. Since you only have one, that chick is torn between wanting to be with the others and being afraid of them. That's why two or more is better. But that's not what you have. The more you can tell us what you have to work with the more likely we can give specific suggestions.