I'm also new. We have 27 chicks living in our back shower room for now, 6 of whom are silkies. When they arrived, they were not as perky as the others for the first 2 days. I talked to the hatchery and they recommended separating them for a few days and 2 Tbs of apple cider vinegar in their water (for extra sugar, maybe? I didn't think to clarify why until later). I put them back in the shipping box they came in, under the same lamp as the others. The height of their bedding put them a little closer to the lamp, which worked to put them at the 5 degree higher temperature than the others (silver laced wyandottes, speckled sussex, barred rocks and black austrolorps) recommended by the hatchery. They perked up being on their own, and I tried to reintroduce them to the rest 2 days later, but they were getting picked on. I kept them in their separate box for a total of 5 days, at which point one kept jumping out and the others kept jumping in, so I figured it was time. They have done wonderfully since then, and are the kids' favorites.
Have fun!
BellaLulaFarm
