Chaos in the hen house! Need to create peace!

[cluelesschickmother]

Hello all! Thank you for all your advice and feedback. She did well in the coop with them and as out in the run with them all day. Unfortunately, she was alone and rejected by the flock once again... it was sad to watch her off by herself all day.

When dusk came, she started getting picked on by the flock and was walking around crying, so I decided to go ahead and bring her inside and give her some love and treats.

She’s been on the couch with us for the last few hours near our fireplace and is now seeming a bit distressed - probably because she’s tired and confused and it’s late and bright. I want to put her back outside in the coop but it’s about 80 degrees in here and 45 degrees out there.

Will the temperature drop cause shock to her system, illness or possibly death?? It would seem unnatural for small birds to be able to handle drastic temperature changes? If not, I can just let her sleep in our living room... but I would rather not. Any thoughts??

 

[cluelesschickmother]

Chickens will be chickens. They need to establish their pecking order to have peace. I just integrated three silkies into my run with 5 regular sized pullets. but they are 8 weeks younger, so they don't get to free range with the 15 week olds.I started with putting two silkies in, and then one week later added a third. Since they are bantams and sooo much smaller, I was worried they would just get trampled. for the first three days, I had them in a pen inside the run, so they can familiarize with each other. Then I let the big girls into the pen, one at a time. I supervised the interactions, just incase something got out of hand, but didn't actually need to intervene in the end, they all got their pecks in and no one was worse for wear. In the end, my paint silkie mix got the most picked on, so you would think she wouldn't pick on others right? wrong! I brought in a new black silkie the following week, they were actually brood mates before. Once the new comer was in the pen, paint pecked the heck out of new silkie! It's been three days now, and all has settled down save for the occasional peck. I leave them to sort it out, as long as they have full crops and are active, I don't worry about bullying, or try to intervene. Chickens are not people, they do things that don't make sense to us, but for them it's necessary and instinctual.

Here's a video of paint silkie mix being pecked. The BSL doesn't actually peck very hard, these birds are just good at being drama queens She still gets pecked on by one russian orloff, who is at the bottom of the pecking order. I read that the birds who are at the bottom are usually the most vicious to new comers, so it does make sense.

Wow that is very reassuring!! I love your video! Your paint silkie looks exactly like my small bantam silkie that I’m trying to integrate - the same walk, temperament and submissiveness. I can imagine they would be at the bottom of the pecking in order in any flock! My silkie is practically blind and isn’t very smart... she has trouble even finding the flock or grabbing treats I place in front of her. It’s no wonder my (very smart and savvy) prison yard chickens won’t accept her!

My silkie acts the same way when she’s getting picked on - bows down motionless. I have a hard time imagining them getting along harmoniously, the flock has a totally different personality and energy level than my little silkie. Even if things do settle down and they “accept her” I don’t think they will really befriend her, poor thing is more of a lap cat.

We are actually also planning on bringing two 6 month black silkie hens to our flock next week as well. I can’t imagine her attacking them! But who knows!! It sounds like we’ve found ourselves in very similar circumstances. I hope they all work it out. Once I remove two of the cockerels and introduce two more pullets I will have 4 pullets and one cockerel and that’s it for me!! Chicken integration is far too much work, especially with birds that have such different personalities!

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello all! Thank you for all your advice and feedback. She did well in the coop with them and as out in the run with them all day. Unfortunately, she was alone and rejected by the flock once again... it was sad to watch her off by herself all day.

When dusk came, she started getting picked on by the flock and was walking around crying, so I decided to go ahead and bring her inside and give her some love and treats.

She’s been on the couch with us for the last few hours near our fireplace and is now seeming a bit distressed - probably because she’s tired and confused and it’s late and bright. I want to put her back outside in the coop but it’s about 80 degrees in here and 45 degrees out there.

Will the temperature drop cause shock to her system, illness or possibly death?? It would seem unnatural for small birds to be able to handle drastic temperature changes? If not, I can just let her sleep in our living room... but I would rather not. Any thoughts??

She won't be shocked by the temperature differential.
You really need to just give the flock lots of space, lots of roosting space and let her work her way into the flock on her own s long as she isn't being injured. When we interfere too much during integration it can actually make it worse for the bird we are trying to integrate.
She is a flock creature and wants to be part of the flock. Her being on the outskirts is okay. Give them time to work things out.

 

[cluelesschickmother]

She won't be shocked by the temperature differential.
You really need to just give the flock lots of space, lots of roosting space and let her work her way into the flock on her own s long as she isn't being injured. When we interfere too much during integration it can actually make it worse for the bird we are trying to integrate.
She is a flock creature and wants to be part of the flock. Her being on the outskirts is okay. Give them time to work things out.

Thank you for that very much needed reality check! You are definitely right and I need to just leave them be and work things out. I can sense that my intervening is not helping anyone out.