Hi All,
I am bringing up silkie chicks for the first time and I have run into so many problems! I got 4 chicks at less than 1 week old, and when I picked them up 3 of them had been pecked nearly bald - 1of them only minor, the other 2 worse. They had been in with many many much larger wyandotte chicks. I put them in with my d'uccles and some easter eggers and it has been a nightmare.. I initially thought it was the other breeds continuing to peck at the silkies but even when I isolated them together, they continued to do it to each other.. even to the 1 guy whose issue was minor. I lost 1 after isolating 2 of them together and had to isolate the rest of them separately because it's become some weird chick hunger games situation between them. They are now just over one month old and I'm re-introducing 2 of them but I'm paranoid that it's going to be a bad situation again. All I've learned is that once there's a problem it's a real challenge to fix - don't take chicks with issues to start? Could I have avoided any of this? Any advice would be much appreciated.
I am bringing up silkie chicks for the first time and I have run into so many problems! I got 4 chicks at less than 1 week old, and when I picked them up 3 of them had been pecked nearly bald - 1of them only minor, the other 2 worse. They had been in with many many much larger wyandotte chicks. I put them in with my d'uccles and some easter eggers and it has been a nightmare.. I initially thought it was the other breeds continuing to peck at the silkies but even when I isolated them together, they continued to do it to each other.. even to the 1 guy whose issue was minor. I lost 1 after isolating 2 of them together and had to isolate the rest of them separately because it's become some weird chick hunger games situation between them. They are now just over one month old and I'm re-introducing 2 of them but I'm paranoid that it's going to be a bad situation again. All I've learned is that once there's a problem it's a real challenge to fix - don't take chicks with issues to start? Could I have avoided any of this? Any advice would be much appreciated.
