Can chickens treat other chickens harshly because of their colour/breed?

[faithyea4]

This year I hatched 3 silkies under a broody hen. We got two buff and one black. They’ve grown up without any fights or fusses and their mother has now stopped looking after them and has went back to the big coop- which is all good.

however, upon adding two buff Orpington pullets to their coop (that we call the nursery) the black one has stopped hanging out with the other younger chickens and now wants to sleep outside the coop at night.
I also notice that he sometimes still tries to follow mother hen around but she does not care for them as much anymore.

I don’t know if he is antisocial or at the very bottom of the pecking order to the point that he cannot flock with his friends anymore.

 

[Folly's place]

Somebody will always be at the bottom of the social order, and generally Silkies are at a disadvantage because they are smaller and can't see well. Many people have their Silkies in separate housing, not with their big birds.
Mary

 

[Alaskan]

Somebody will always be at the bottom of the social order, and generally Silkies are at a disadvantage because they are smaller and can't see well. Many people have their Silkies in separate housing, not with their big birds.
Mary

X2.

But also, yes, chickens can be color prejudiced.

 

[Folly's place]

Mine tend to stick in family groups, birds that were hatchmates, although as they grow, some of the bantams will group together, not with the bigger birds.
Last year we had the 'gang of six' that turned into the 'gang of five' when one died. White Chanties, very cute!
Mary

 

[aart]

This year I hatched 3 silkies under a broody hen. We got two buff and one black. They’ve grown up without any fights or fusses and their mother has now stopped looking after them and has went back to the big coop- which is all good.

however, upon adding two buff Orpington pullets to their coop (that we call the nursery) the black one has stopped hanging out with the other younger chickens and now wants to sleep outside the coop at night.
I also notice that he sometimes still tries to follow mother hen around but she does not care for them as much anymore.

I don’t know if he is antisocial or at the very bottom of the pecking order to the point that he cannot flock with his friends anymore.

So the mama went "back to the big coop",
meaning she didn't integrate them with the flock?
.....and then you added to BO's in with the chicks?

How old are the silkie chicks and the BO's, in weeks or months?
How did you introduce the BO's to the silkie chicks?

I don't think this is a 'color' issue.
Could be a vision issue, that black silkie looks like it may be having trouble seeing do to it's 'hair-do'.

 

[SilkySilkie]

so we bought 2 pullets one brown and white so my hens were also white and accepted her but were really mean to the white one but slowly it stopped