integrating new girls

[cheri222]

My 2 silkies are out of quarantine and lasted 2 days with the big girls. No real injuries but quite a bit of feather pulling and pecking to the shy one. At the end of 2 days she was in the corner staring at the wall not eating or drinking. Pulled the 2 silkies and put them in the sunroom in a dog crate and they are now eating and acting normal again. The rooster is a silkie but he is no help. Any ideas? I really hate to have 2 house silkies for the winter. I was thinking of putting the dog crate in the coop--it is xlarge size so I could put food and water in it. How long should I keep them in it? If it fails, I can keep them in the basement till spring and build a silkie coop. I also trimmed them a little since they couldn't see who was tormenting them. It was only the head hen that was picking and I thought of putting her in the dog crate for a couple days, but that would just screw up the dynamics and someone else would pick on them?

 

[greenmulberry]

Take the meanest of the big girls out of the coop for three days, leaving the silkies in there. After three days reintroduce the mean girls, one at a time. They will not be nearly so bold after being out of the flock for a bit, and the silkies will have more confidence.

 

[midget_farms]

thats good advice - if you can't integrate them - make them the home flock & bring the others back one or two at a time.

You should also make sure the hens have plenty of room to run & multiple feeders. The head hens will prevent lower ranking birds from eating.

 

[cheri222]

The mean girl is spending 3 days in the sunroom and the silkies are now in the coop. Small amount of pecking by the big girls but nothing major. The silkies are eating and drinking, no more standing in the corner staring at the wall. They also got a little trim and that seems to help. I had the hubby recess a small area of the coop into the garage (they share a wall) just the size for a silkie hangout if need be.
He is reroofing the garage right now so not a big deal.