Help Advice

[doc2002]

Sorry this may be long but I want you to hear the whole story: I have 8 hens of various ages and breeds in my flock. They all get along for the most part, I know and they know the pecking order. Last Sept I inherited a Silkie and Black Austrlop, raised them separate as friends and then added them to the flock slowly and all was fine through out the winter.
2 weeks ago, I noticed my silkie had been injured, bleeding from her ear and noticed 2 others with feathers missing from their neck. I took out the silkie to let her heal , put her with my 3 eggers chicks that are 8 weeks old.
She healed fine and I brought her back out to the coop , her "friend she grew up with wasn't hanging with her anymore, and the 1st and 2nd in pecking order just started maiming her, pecking at her hard, laying on top of her and pulling back feathers out with their beaks. Mainly the 2nd in pecking order, which is a road island red. I don't understand, they got along fine before and now I can't put her back.
Do you think it'll change when I put the other 3 I'm raising in with the flock? I feel so bad for her, like bullying at its worst and I don't want her to die or get reinjured.
Oh and I believe she may have originally been injured by a skunk that got in the coop and thats how the other 2 lost some feathers on their neck. I caught the skunk and relocated it.

 

[coach723]

When you reintegrate a bird that has been away from the flock for awhile, it's the same as bringing them in as a new bird. When they are removed for long enough, they are no longer 'a member' of the flock. So use the 'see but don't touch' method. Put her, and the new chicks when it's time, either in a wire crate or use temporary wire/fence to give them their own area that is right next to where the existing flock is (make sure there can be no fly overs) Feed each group at the wire, on opposite sides, they can all see each other, eat 'together', but no one can touch or hurt another. You do that until there is no posturing, attempted fence fighting, etc. Everyone should be calm and kind of ignoring each other. Then you do short periods together, under supervision, so you can step in if anything bad happens. There will be some pecking order spats, but those should be a peck and a run and over, not a bloody fight. Sometimes that can be accomplished fairly quickly, sometimes it takes longer, there is really no way to predict. You can't rush it, it just takes as long as it takes. If she's getting along with the chicks, I would leave her with them, and integrate them all together, it usually goes better if they are in a group rather than one individual bird trying to mix into an existing flock. As a group, they have buddies. Space can be a factor also, the more room they have, the less likely to be issues, they have plenty of room to be respectful of each other. Add extra feeders and waterers also, so the higher pecking order birds can't guard them all. If you have one bird being a bully, then sometimes separating that bird away from the flock, where they can't be seen or heard, will reset the pecking order, that bird will be new, and things will calm down and bullying may stop.

 

[doc2002]

Sorry this may be long but I want you to hear the whole story: I have 8 hens of various ages and breeds in my flock. They all get along for the most part, I know and they know the pecking order. Last Sept I inherited a Silkie and Black Austrlop, raised them separate as friends and then added them to the flock slowly and all was fine through out the winter.
2 weeks ago, I noticed my silkie had been injured, bleeding from her ear and noticed 2 others with feathers missing from their neck. I took out the silkie to let her heal , put her with my 3 eggers chicks that are 8 weeks old.
She healed fine and I brought her back out to the coop , her "friend she grew up with wasn't hanging with her anymore, and the 1st and 2nd in pecking order just started maiming her, pecking at her hard, laying on top of her and pulling back feathers out with their beaks. Mainly the 2nd in pecking order, which is a road island red. I don't understand, they got along fine before and now I can't put her back.
Do you think it'll change when I put the other 3 I'm raising in with the flock? I feel so bad for her, like bullying at its worst and I don't want her to die or get reinjured.
Oh and I believe she may have originally been injured by a skunk that got in the coop and thats how the other 2 lost some feathers on their neck. I caught the skunk and relocated it.

Thank you so much. One question, what about at night? I only have the one coop and right now the new ones are in the playpen and small gated area inside the garage. I don’t want to keep them outside because they’re not secure and safe.

 

[Tonyroo]

You probably should rehome the weaker chickens. Problems like that rarely stop until they are no longer on the premise of the property or coop.

 

[ChickNanny13]

IMO Silkies should be raised with their own, or other docile breeds due to size and their vaulted skull. However, others have done it but all really depends on the size of your coop/run.

It's been recommended 4sq ft per chicken in the coop and 10sq ft per in the run but BIGGER the better. Less incidents and gives everyone space, the larger breeds need even more room in a coop to prevent issues between them.

What are the dimensions of your coop? Run? How many chickens do you have? What breeds? How many feeders/waterers?

 

[coach723]

If your run is large enough, and secure from predators you can crate them in the run at night, if not, and the coop is not large enough to accommodate a crate, then I would bring them in at night, and take them out during the day, until you get them all integrated. It could just take a matter of days, or it could take longer. Long term, you might look at ways you could possibly modify your set up to make integration easier. If you are going to have chickens long term, this will be a recurring need. After my first couple of years, I made a list of things I'd learned I needed, and built a new coop and run to make it all work better. I have a 'nursery' area now that is parallel to my run, with a small door that can be opened or closed as needed. My covered run is predator proof, so I put up a temporary fence in the covered run and use a crate as a temporary mini coop. So they have the parallel run during the day and I can secure them safely at night, all while keeping them on the other side of wire and safe from the rest of the flock. And it's so close to the big coop that once they are together it's usually not an issue getting them to go in the big coop. That is how I integrate new chicks, or separate a bird that needs safety or rehab before going back with the flock. The bigger the better, and when you redo things, always go as big as you can. Too much space is rare, not enough space is a common problem. There are a million ways of doing it, you just have to find a way of doing it that works for you.
A couple of pictures of my coop/run. First picture you can see my secure covered run, the nursery area is on the far side.

This is the nursery area below, you can't see in the picture but it has bird netting up when there are chicks and there is a door behind where the solar panels are, to get in and out of the run area. The main run is straight out off the end of the covered run.

 

[David61]

I don't have a rooster so I am the rooster. I will go in the coop or run and case down, then pin any one of my girls who acts to aggressive. They have a pecking order but i don't allow any drama and they know it. I am giver of grain, the taker of eggs, The gate keeper, slayer of coons, protector from hawk. Fear my rath and know my generosity of raisins. lol My top hen was being to agressive with a new pullet. I had to fuss at both of them for a few days.