Pecking Order and Young Chicken raised in Flock

[KIslandGirls]

I have had 7 hens for a bit over a year, they are in their third year and got displaced in a real estate transition, I was wanting to start a flock so I adopted them. This past year, my neighbor's rooster has adopted them as his flock, and spends his days here, Most days everyone free ranges in the yard. One of the hens went broody and I decided to let her try and hatch out some of the eggs. There were issues and only one chick made it. It is now 8 weeks old. As an aside, it looks nothing like the rest of the flock, some Silkie genes got in there somehow... I let the hen raise the chick in the flock and all seemed to be going well until the last week or so... some of the hens are really attacking the young one. So far no blood, but lots of feathers missing from both chicklet and mom. And the young one is pretty afraid to be around the others at all -- I've seen it flee and squeeze under my deck in a space too small for the others to follow. I'm considering setting up an isolation coop for them until it is full sized, but I'd rather let them work it out if they are going to work it out. It's hard for me to get the hens in at night now because the little one does not want to enter at the same time as the others -- usually mom and young one roost before the others if I leave it late enough for them to come in on their own. Can an 8-week old withstand this much aggression?

 

[SueT]

It will be fine. My current rooster was raised as an only chick by his mom, and in the flock. He’s the best rooster ever! Polite, non aggressive, it must have been his upbringing!

 

[KIslandGirls]

It will be fine. My current rooster was raised as an only chick by his mom, and in the flock. He’s the best rooster ever! Polite, non aggressive, it must have been his upbringing!

Did the rest of the flock really beat up on him when he was as young as 8 weeks? This morning when I let them out, he hid in the coop and went out the "man door" when I peeked into to check and ran away from all the other birds. Mom caught up with him (or her).

 

[SueT]

Did the rest of the flock really beat up on him when he was as young as 8 weeks? This morning when I let them out, he hid in the coop and went out the "man door" when I peeked into to check and ran away from all the other birds. Mom caught up with him (or her).

No, not at all. She weaned him (Jude) at 4 weeks and the rest of the flock left him alone, however, he was kind of an outsider for a bit and did avoid socializing with the others. They didn’t beat up on him, he gave them no reason to. The rooster never had to attack him, rather Dad served as an example for what turned out to be his understudy. Dad was killed by a raccoon, when Jude was 1 yr old, and Jude took over seamlessly.
Like his father, he is a gentle flock leader, and they all respect him.
1. Jude about 3 wks, with mom and dad

2. Jude in the foreground, w the flock before his father was killed

Jude as the respected leader now age 2

 

[KIslandGirls]

The Roo is OK with him, it's some of the hens... I watched them towards dusk yesterday. It still sticks close to mother hen, and mother hen gets upset when she realizes its not close to her after a while. It did find an opportunity to come in to the run and eat and drink before going into the coop, then I bribed the rest to go in so I could close up. I'm still watching to see if it either escalates or dies down.