Introducing single silkie into flock

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Hello, and a belated welcome. Good luck with your integration.

 

[Jenbirdee]

 

[DobieLover]

I just shared a Pic. It's hard to see but she's been in a closed off part of that run with her own feeder and waterer. She's about 4 months old, I have another hen 5 months old, a rooster about 1 yr and a older hen not sure her age.

You have a lot of things working against you here.
You have a lone Silkie in the flock. She looks different than the others and will always have difficulty integrating.

You have a Silkie PULLET that is not sexually mature in with a very sexually mature male that only has 2 females. He is likely frustrated.

Your setup is WAY too small for your flock, especially with an active rooster in there. You really need to build a proper coop with a MUCH larger run and give them the space, resources and enrichment they need to stop this behavior. And you need more than 2 females for this guy.

Your coop should offer 4 square feet per bird, 1 linear foot of roost space per bird and as close to 1 sq ft of year round open ventilation per bird, with 1 nest box per 4-5 females. The nest box sq footage is not included in the coop area.

Your run should offer an additional 12-15 sq ft of space of space per bird and you should have lots of things for the chickens to do in that space like branches, stumps and old wood chairs/stools to perch on; an old pallet leaning against the wall to escape behind, lots of dry organic matter for substrate for them to scratch around it and ultimately dig out dust baths in.

If you cannot provide them with proper housing, I would at least rehome the rooster to remove the current largest source of stress.

 

[N F C]

Hi, @DobieLover has given you some solid information...hope it helps. Best wishes.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

I think in your present situation you might consider rehoming your rooster. They are all pretty cramped in there and keeping a rooster in such close quarters will cause them all anxiety.

Best wishes with your flock!

 

[muddy75]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. All of @DobieLover's comments are right on the mark. Integrating silkies into an already established flock is always difficult.

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC.
@DobieLover and @Debbie292d
Have both offered excellent advice.
Sometimes we are so determined to have the flock that we want, that we forget to take into account whats best for the individual chickens. Introducing one chicken is always hard. The fact that your's is a silkie makes it more so. By adding her to an established flock you are compromising her health and her life. I'm not trying to be cruel, but if you can't provide her with a flock of like chickens it would be better to rehome her to a flock of silkies.