- Jul 9, 2013
- 4
- 0
- 7
So we're a family fairly new to keeping chickens. We have them as pets but take advantage of the egg laying. We previously had 3 hybrids which we had for 6 months, but last week they were unbelievably (we can only assume) stolen from their coop in our back garden! There is no way for a predator to get in and there's no blood and only a few feathers on the floor from one (must have struggled). We were understandably devastated, those girls were such brilliant pets with great characters. The garden was just too quiet so we decided to get some more. This afternoon we went and got three new ones but there is a serious problem with one.
They were all in the same pen when we got them, and seemed fine then. But once we got them home and into the pen the youngest and smallest turned really vicious to the slightly bigger one. We have a silkie, which is a lot bigger than the other two, and small cichon(?) and a very small frizzle. The frizzle still whistles rather than clucks, we can only assume this means it's still technically a chick, and wonder if this is part of the reason. It appears slightly shunned by the silkie which is very protective of the cichon, they stick together and ignore the frizzle. But for no reason suddenly the frizzle wonders over to the cichon and starts pecking, quite viciously at times, at the cichon. At first I thought it was a pecking order establishment but she just kept doing it. When we caught them back in the box to put into their nesting box she really went for her and pulled out a feather. We decided the best option was to separate them for the night, the little frizzle is in the box alone for the night which is serving as a coop for her while the other two are in the real coop. I've seen a few things on here about introducing them in separate pens during the day so they can visibly see each other, then try them together after a week, which we will try but it just seems strange that they were fine at the farm in the same pen.
Is there a particular reason for this? The frizzle is still very young, is she too young to be living with hens? Advice would be massively appreciated, my sister and I were heartbroken to lose the other girls but not as much as my dad was, we had to get some new ones to cheer him up but this is not what he had in mind! Thanks for reading
They were all in the same pen when we got them, and seemed fine then. But once we got them home and into the pen the youngest and smallest turned really vicious to the slightly bigger one. We have a silkie, which is a lot bigger than the other two, and small cichon(?) and a very small frizzle. The frizzle still whistles rather than clucks, we can only assume this means it's still technically a chick, and wonder if this is part of the reason. It appears slightly shunned by the silkie which is very protective of the cichon, they stick together and ignore the frizzle. But for no reason suddenly the frizzle wonders over to the cichon and starts pecking, quite viciously at times, at the cichon. At first I thought it was a pecking order establishment but she just kept doing it. When we caught them back in the box to put into their nesting box she really went for her and pulled out a feather. We decided the best option was to separate them for the night, the little frizzle is in the box alone for the night which is serving as a coop for her while the other two are in the real coop. I've seen a few things on here about introducing them in separate pens during the day so they can visibly see each other, then try them together after a week, which we will try but it just seems strange that they were fine at the farm in the same pen.
Is there a particular reason for this? The frizzle is still very young, is she too young to be living with hens? Advice would be massively appreciated, my sister and I were heartbroken to lose the other girls but not as much as my dad was, we had to get some new ones to cheer him up but this is not what he had in mind! Thanks for reading
