Intergrating a five week old to an adult flock

[AussieHens96]

We bought a 5 week old silkie today, a tiny little thing. We have four other chooks, two isas, 1 adult broody silkie and a older Wyandotte bantam. We kept the baby in the big coop for her to feed and settle while the others were free ranging. Now it's night and we've out them to bed, I hid the baby under our broody silkie. The first time the baby ran off and was pecked, drawing blood just above the beak - not a lot of blood - and I put her back under the silkie. Penny (the silkie adult) then did the right thing and hid her under her wing, hiding the baby from view.

I'm aware the baby needs to find some sort of pecking order but at what stage should we remove her? I don't want the others killing her... By tomorrow we're keeping them in the big coop while we fix the fence the isas keep jumping so they'll be together. I'm praying that Penny mothers her and keeps the others off, as Penny is the boss in the flock, despite being a silkie.

We do have a smaller coop ready if we need it, one for just bub and Penny if need be
Any advice?

 

[KrisH]

Personally I would separate them until the new one is at least off chick food and can better defend herself. integrating is tough, and sometimes causes riots.

RobertH

 

[AussieHens96]

Separating her with or without the adult silkie?

 

[donrae]

Good rule of thumb is to not put chicks in with adult birds while they still peep. That five week old bird has not been raised with that hen as it's mother and the silkie hasn't bonded with it to protect it. I think you need to pull the chick out until at least 12 weeks, more like 16 has worked best for me. When I've tried to put 8 week old chicks in with my grown hens, I've gotten dead chicks for my impatience.

 

[AussieHens96]

Good rule of thumb is to not put chicks in with adult birds while they still peep. That five week old bird has not been raised with that hen as it's mother and the silkie hasn't bonded with it to protect it. I think you need to pull the chick out until at least 12 weeks, more like 16 has worked best for me. When I've tried to put 8 week old chicks in with my grown hens, I've gotten dead chicks for my impatience.

Would she be okay on her own, though? Outside?

 

[AussieHens96]

We've re-constructed our smaller coop and placed Lola (the 5-week-old silkie) and Penny (who is an adult). Penny has taken to Lola quite well and likes to sit, broody, in her box during the day. Lola forages in the small enclosed coop, happy as can be. Here are some pictures:

 

[AussieHens96]

After checking the box this morning, expecting both of them to be in seperate areas of the roosting part I found Lola hidden beneath Penny. When she popped her head out this was the picture, sorry for it being grainy!