Hi! I have had chickens for about 2 years now. Currently I have 4 grown chickens: 2 wyanandottes, 1 plymouth barred rock and 1 silky. the silky is about 6 months older but about half the size of the other chickens. They used to all get along, but now if I put all 4 chickens together the three will gang up on the silky and peck her head until she's bleeding. Besides separating them permanently is there anything else I can try to help them get along? I would appreciate any input you have.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Unfortunately, Silkies are the target of much aggression in many flocks because they look so different from the others. Most people keep their Silkies with other Silkies or Top Hap type birds or by themselves completely. You can't change the way birds think and your flock will probably always pick on your Silkie. The only other thing besides separating her would be to put pinless peepers on all your birds but the Silkie. This is pretty drastic but it would stop them from hurting her. I have used pinless peepers with great success on one or two birds, but never as a permanent solution as you might need to do here. So I am sorry to say I think the only solution is to keep her separate with others of her kind. Good luck and I hope your Silkie's wounds heal quick!
Hello and Welcome To BYC! If you can increase the space they have and give them more things to do to keep them entertained that might possibly help (crowded and/or bored birds are more likely to bully and it is common in the winter when they don't go outside much). You might try putting pinless peepers on all three of the other birds if they are all picking on her to see if that slows down the bullying. If she is a white or light colored bird be sure to put Blu-Kote or something like that on her head, the color sometimes helps stop picking. But unfortunately birds like silkies often need to be kept separate from other birds because they so often do get picked on.
Silkies generally do well with bantam cochins and Salmon faverolles etc. If you have several silkies and one other breed, I would suspect the silkies would bully the odd one out.
Welcome to BYC! I'm sorry to hear about the pecking order troubles!Unfortunately, Silkies tend to be easy targets, as Kelsie and TwoCrows stated. You may need to separate her and perhaps create another little flock with some Silkie-friendly breeds like Polish.
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Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help. Excellent advice from Two Crows and Kelsie. Good luck to you!
