New Momma Hen, and a silkie situation

[GoblinG00P]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, and I apologize in advance for the wall of text. But long story short, we have a bunch of 3 month old chicks, most of them are big enough to go out with the big chickens and integration has been going well. The problem comes from the 4 silkies we have, they're absolutely tiny ... Which is fine, I know they'll always be smaller than the rest, but for now they're just too small to be outside unsupervised in our area. Now, we have a new Momma Hen who is separated from the flock (but still visible) and she just hatched all 5 of her sisters eggs and is doing great with them ... I know 3 months is too old to give the silkies to her to take care of. But we gave it a try (I have cameras in the coop to keep an eye on the chicks at all times). We snuck them under her a few nights ago and all 4 snuggled up with her immediately. Unbelievably 3 of them are her babies now, following her around,hiding under her wings and playing with the new chicks (who are only a little bit smaller than they are) but she absolutely hates the black one for whatever reason. Not attacking it, just scaring it away from everyone else .... My question is, since she's accepted the other 3, will she ever accept this one? I won't separate it off by itself, but I'd like to solve this problem if I can.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Some hens are very particular about color. You said the "black chick." May I assume the others are lighter or multi colored?

She may never like the black chick simply because it looks different. She might in time accept it. But it needs careful supervision.

Might I also add that I personally have never integrated Silkies with standards successfully. I find my Silkies much happier in their own min coop and run. They waddle slowly (making them fine hawk targets), and have those tempting head crests to peck. My standards were just constantly running over them or pecking them.

So just a thought. Silkies tend to always be slower, smaller, and more delicate. You may wish to keep them in a small coop to themselves.

LofMc

 

[GoblinG00P]

Yeah, the others are white and tan, honestly things haven't been going well integrating the silkies ... I probably will have to keep them separate unfortunately... But as long as they're happy and safe I guess it's okay