Hello! My family and I are brand new to backyard chickens. We bought a lovely, snowy white silkie as our first chicken. She has a nice coop in the yard and spends a lot of time out in the yard with me and my three little toddler boys. She's a sweet little thing, but has not exactly been thrilled to bond with me. I need some tips! She likes to sit at my feet and under my chair, but acts very nervous when I try to pick her up. Once she's in my lap, she's content to fluff up her feathers and start grooming herself and settle in, but she acts pretty nervous when I first approach. I feel guilty if I'm forcing her to sit with me. I feel sorry that it's just her, I want her to have some kind of companion even if it's just me! Is that silly? We originally hoped we could have her adopt some chicks, but she's not yet laying and not quite ready for that mom job. So for now it's just her in the coop! Whenever I come close to her coop or start to talk to her, she suddenly gets very chatty and makes lots of little peeps and clucks. I'm not sure if these are happy, social sounds or nervous sounds! When I do hold her and pet her she makes a sort of a low, grumbly purring sound - again, is this happy or is this "get away from me......" I was hoping I could bribe her with treats, but was surprised to find out that she really doesn't care to eat anything but her feed! I've tried all manner of fruits and vegetables, yogurt, oatmeal, wheat bread, hard boiled egg, dried mealworms... But she ignores all of it ! If I put meal worms in with her feed, she'll pick around them and leave them uneaten! How weird! Any thoughts? Finally, we did order 4 little chicks that will be day old at the end of the month. My husband wants good egg layers, but I wanted to pick breeds that were known to be gentle and friendly in the hopes they'd get along with the silkie. We got two buff orpingtons, a snowy Easter egger, and a regular Easter egger. Since she's not yet broody, I'll be raising them in a brooder. Do you think I need another silkie so she's not the odd one out? At what point can I introduce them, and do you have any tips? I don't want to end up with any injured birds! And I don't want my little silkie to get bullied. I'd love any tips you have! 
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