chicken flock diversity

[TheMotleyCoop]

Hey all,
I have a flock of 7—One rooster (silkie) and 6 Hens (One silkie, one polish, one cream legbar, one Ayam Cemani, One Lyonnaise and one I'm unsure of the breed but larger grey )They are my backyard flock and live in a large penned area safe from predators. Often in the summertime I let them explore the yard. The silkie hen is often excluded from the rest of the flock. She's the smallest and the polish is probably the next lowest in pecking order. The rooster chooses the Polish and the Silkie to mate with the most and he's scratching up their backs, breaking their feathers. No free flowing blood but still, it doesn't look great. I'm wondering a few things—Should I ignore it, or get rid of the Rooster? Would getting another silkie or two help to even out the pecking order and give Gretchen (the silkie) a friend? Looking for suggestions, or experience thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The rooster is mating what is easy. Do you see him mating them all or just the two? At least he's a silkie and can't do as much damage as a larger rooster. Only you can decide if he's too much. You can pen him separately for a while if you wish to keep him, and want to give the hens a break.

The best way to give your silkie hen a friend is to let her hatch or raise chicks. Does she go broody? Anything she raised she would bond with. If you just add more she may or may not wish to be with them.

 

[TheMotleyCoop]

George mates four out of the 6 Hens, two of them seem more physically effected by it (with some feather loss on their necks and backs) The other two don't seem effected at all.

Gretchen (the Silkie hen) is very broody. I'm thinking I will let her hatch her eggs. Kelly also is broody, she's a much bigger hen (The Ayam Cemani) I'm thinking about letting her hatch as well and penning them together, next to and in view of—but not with, the rest of the flock. But I haven't begun looking into the chicken politics of doing this yet, and am worried the other hen who struggles with George would suffer from being the remaining smallest Hen.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I wouldn't pen two broody hens together. Some can become aggressive with other hens, and sometimes you will see aggression towards others chicks.

If you are hatching you will get more roosters to choose from especially if you have my current luck with hatching mostly males.

 

[Mrs. K]

Can you cull and butcher roosters? If you can't, and a lot of people can't, then do not hatch. Adding a lot more cockerels to the flock dramatically makes for more problems. If you want to add more chicks, get day old chicks which will bring your odds of pullets up to 90%.

Can you post pictures of your set up. Sometimes adding more clutter can help birds get away from each other, and makes better use of vertical space.

Mrs K