Is this thing they are doing normal?

[DeRock89]

i just integrated these 5 young ones in with three adult hens. They are all hens. The young ones are 4 months old. They hold their mouths open a lot and kind of pant. I figured they where hot but the adult ones don’t do it like they do... they have all been together for a week now. Is this panting thing normal?

The adults are being major jerks to the young ones, 90% of it’s from one of the adults. I have the plastic pinless “peepers” on the adults. The main jerk bird isn’t pecking after putting them on her but she’s still chasing them around and it’s like she tries to flog them. I have 3 different feed and water locations to make sure she can’t block them from getting food and water with hiding locations. It’s what the blue box is for in the pictures. There’s 128 feet of run for 8 birds and several perched at different heights. She’s especially mean to the silkie. It doesn’t help to that the young ones are super skiddish so I think their fear fires up jerk bird even more. Maybe the panting thing is stress?

Segregated jerk bird for 5 days when it was apparent she wasn’t going to even let them in the coop until they got more used to their new environment. They won’t even get out of the rain sometimes because that means coming near jerk bird.

Are they hot or stressed? There’s no other signs of respiratory illness that I see.

https://i.imgur.com/m1gojE5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/5LASVtW.jpg

 

[rebrascora]

They are almost certainly stressed and that can exhibit as panting.
Stress is not good for young birds (or any of us) as it can reduce their immune response. I appreciate that you have done a lot to offset the problems of integration. Did you also operate a see but no touch period where the youngsters were confined to an area of the older flock's run for a week or two? If not, take a step back and try that. Lone silkies in a large fowl flock do not fare well and being unable to fly and slower and perhaps her crest restricting her view, she will be more vulnerable to bullying. It is sometimes better to get them another silkie or bantam cochin friend and keep them separate.

 

[DeRock89]

They are almost certainly stressed and that can exhibit as panting.
Stress is not good for young birds (or any of us) as it can reduce their immune response. I appreciate that you have done a lot to offset the problems of integration. Did you also operate a see but no touch period where the youngsters were confined to an area of the older flock's run for a week or two? If not, take a step back and try that. Lone silkies in a large fowl flock do not fare well and being unable to fly and slower and perhaps her crest restricting her view, she will be more vulnerable to bullying. It is sometimes better to get them another silkie or bantam cochin friend and keep them separate.

I did do this. I built a modular pin that I raised the young ones up from chicks in up to recently. I connected to the main run with chicken wire in between for a week and then removed the center to connect them.
I believe the silkie has a strong bond with the brown one in the pictures. They both stick together almost all the time and always roost together. They where the two survivors from Coccidiosis when I first got chicks for the first time. I was able to treat them in time once it was figured out. I got the three others shortly after that. They have all been in a pin together for a long time, the silkie and the brown one have been their own two chicken gang and the other three have been their own chicken gang.

After I took the devider out and it was apparent that the black Sumatran was going to bully the mess out of them, I separated just her out for a week but in view.

Also, the young ones don’t seem too concerned about getting out of the rain like the adult ones. I find them in the rain while the others went into shelter... Is that normal?

 

[lazy gardener]

Separating the bully, but keeping her in sight of the flock really is not enough. You should separate her out of sight of the rest of the birds. I would plan on a 2 week out of sight separation. ALSO, how big is your coop and run? You need a minimum of 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run. This is assuming you don't have a rooster, a broody with chicks, or need to integrate birds. If you have any of these things going on, you need EVEN MORE ROOM.

 

[lazy gardener]

Given the stress/heat responses you are seeing, I'd offer them some electrolytes and vitamins. Any time you give electrolytes, you should also have some plain water available.