Outcast Chick?

[KBGB]

I feel silly asking this question but is it normal for chicks to outcast a chick that is different than them? We have one Blue Splash Maran who has feathered feet and none of the other chicks have feathered feet. (We had ordered two but one didn't make it from shipping.) The chicks will all roost in a row on the top roost bar and our poor Maran will pace back and forth looking for a place and then sleep alone on the bottom roost bar. It's kind of sad. But maybe I am applying human emotions to chickens. Maybe it has nothing to do with her feet and she is just low chick in the pecking order? I just wasn't sure and I didn't know if there was anything I could or should do to help the situation? I am a new chicken mom and I overthink all the things!

 

[DobieLover]

I feel silly asking this question but is it normal for chicks to outcast a chick that is different than them? We have one Blue Splash Maran who has feathered feet and none of the other chicks have feathered feet. (We had ordered two but one didn't make it from shipping.) The chicks will all roost in a row on the top roost bar and our poor Maran will pace back and forth looking for a place and then sleep alone on the bottom roost bar. It's kind of sad. But maybe I am applying human emotions to chickens. Maybe it has nothing to do with her feet and she is just low chick in the pecking order? I just wasn't sure and I didn't know if there was anything I could or should do to help the situation? I am a new chicken mom and I overthink all the things!

It doesn't sound like they are chicks any longer. It sounds like they are pullets.
Chickens do tend to keep with like colored birds. I have a highly mixed flock and have observed that similarly colored birds do tend to group together more often than not.
The foot feathering likely has nothing to do with it. The Marans is likely just low ranking.
Because higher ranked birds take the highest roost is one reason I made my roosts all the same level. One less thing to fight over.
How many linear inches of roost do you have per bird?

 

[KBGB]

It doesn't sound like they are chicks any longer. It sounds like they are pullets.
Chickens do tend to keep with like colored birds. I have a highly mixed flock and have observed that similarly colored birds do tend to group together more often than not.
The foot feathering likely has nothing to do with it. The Marans is likely just low ranking.
Because higher ranked birds take the highest roost is one reason I made my roosts all the same level. One less thing to fight over.
How many linear inches of roost do you have per bird?

Oh! At what age do they become pullets? They are six weeks old. I am a new chicken mom so this all new to me! I will measure the roost tomorrow and maybe we can move the chicken wire separating them from the older girls over to give a little more space. She was pacing back and forth again tonight so I set her up on the roost by the others and they are all asleep like that but it is a little snug.

 

[DobieLover]

Oh! At what age do they become pullets? They are six weeks old. I am a new chicken mom so this all new to me! I will measure the roost tomorrow and maybe we can move the chicken wire separating them from the older girls over to give a little more space. She was pacing back and forth again tonight so I set her up on the roost by the others and they are all asleep like that but it is a little snug.

At six weeks old. When fully feathered.
They become hens at 1 year.
You can (and should) make a door or two in the divider between the hens and where the pullets are that is just large enough for the pullets to get through but not the hens so they can start intgrating.