New Silkie Getting her butt whooped

[Spatacuulous]

I have 6 hens in all- But the two RIR's seem to gang up on, chase, peck and generally torture the new silkie. She's been here for 2 weeks so far and keeps to herself in a corner of the yard and when night falls- I find her roosting outside in the same spot by herself far from the coop. 10 of 14 nights I've scooped her and inserted her onto the bar in the coop. She doesn't seem to get it.

I tried isolating her in a private run in the view of the others but it did not work. She was only in there for 4 days though and cried the whole time. I could not take the noise anymore.

Any suggestions?

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Welcome to BYC!
There are several things to consider. Adding one bird is typically not a good idea as they all focus on that one bird and she/he never gets a reprieve from the unwanted attention. Second, Silkies are a peaceful bird and RIR are typically bossy, brassy, aggressive birds. There are exceptions to these generalizations but I fear yours are in this category. Time may help or you may need to get her another Silkie friend for company and a little bit of a diversion. Sometimes seperating the misbahaving birds for a couple of days works so perhaps try that?

Good luck.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

I never had much luck puting a silkey in with other mature chickens. If they look different they become an instant target. To compound matters the silkies are at a disadvantage in terms of size, sight and mobility as they can't fly or roost to any degree.

If you intergrated her in while adding a few new younger birds or other silkies there might be a better chance for sucess as any abuse would get spread around and they could have their own little gang.

 

[CupOJoe42]

I would separate the Silkie and get her some Silkie friends!!!! IMHO

This is a concern for me because I have 16 chicks coming next month and 4 are Silkies that I definitely do not want to get picked on. They might be okay if they are all the same age and raised together, but I think I am going to divide the coop so the Silkies have their own area and their own run. I can always use it for broodies down the road if I decide that I can integrate everyone.

 

[djennings]

I bought a pair of blue silkies and put them in with my RIR's, the silkies were 1/2 month older then the others but smaller. At first when one rir would come up to her and try to be mean she would turn around and attack. Then, this is too funny, all the RIR's went into the coop and you could hear them talking amongst each other, the next thing you see is all ten in a row coming down the ladder and attacked at same time, like an army. Had to start spraying the RIR's with water every time they tried to mess with her. Has gotten alot better. The silkie roo, he is the King of all of them. The silkie is now laying on eggs, and everytime I go in there to check on her, the RIR's come running into the coop to check on the silkie, so cute.

 

[Allsardane]

@Dobieslady

If they are all arriving at the same time and the same age (chicks), you might not have to worry. They all look about the same at a day old.

My flock is- (all 17 weeks old)

Cockerel
Jersey Giant

Pullets- (in order of size)
Easter Egger
Wyandotte
Orpington
White laced Red Cornish
2 x Andalusians
3 x Dark Cornish
Silver Spangled Hamburg
Egyptian Fayoumi
Buff Polish
Silkie
Red Cochin Frizzle Bantam
Black tailed white japanese


The four smallest tend to hang out by themselves (but the frizzle picks fights with everyone, doesn't win often), the Fayoumi bosses everyone around, the red cornish is a loaner, and the Cockerel only tries to mate with bird from the dark cornish and larger. He made a pass at the Fayoumis once, but she gave him an earful. Absolutely nobody picks on the funny looking birds though. They were part of the flock before they started looking goofy, so they were in. Of course, the benefit of such a strange flock is that, as nobody really holds a majority, there isn't a central group that can gang up on anyone else.

To the original poster- getting your silkie a friend would be great to keep your company, but it sounds more like the two RIR ladies need to be put in a private enclosure more than the silkie did. Pull those two ladies away for a couple of days, or maybe just one of the two, so that the silkie can try and insert herself into the flock. When you bring the RIR's back, there will be a scuffle, but hopefully it will be more of a "RIR's trying to put themselves back into the flock" rather than "RIR's trying to keep Silkie out of the flock".

 

[leadwolf1]

I haven't had any problems with my mixed flock either

As a matter of fact, the silkies rule!

 

[Bird Collector]

I have a big mix of chickies and have no troubles with them getting along. There is always an adjusment with the pecking order when a new one is introduced but as stated earlier never introduce just one. That being said I had to do it as I was given a White crested polish for my 50th birthday and could not say no. LOL So when Wilma got to 9 to 10 weeks she was as big as my smallest D'uccle so in she went. I always introduce them at night when all are sleeping and there in the morning when they come out. I think it worked for Wlima because she could not see past her ploom of features from her crest and was not aware of anybody coming at her. So she had no reason to run. I will be getting a 1 year old cochin from a friend becuase she is getting ripped up by all the roosters. I guess you could say she is easy. Ooch!!!!! Anyway I can't have roosters where I live so I am taking that poor girl in so she can get her back healed and feathers to regrow. I am going to get a baby maybe two this weekend and put the them together and hope that the cochin will mother the baby and they will be bonded when I put them in with the rest of the girls.