Silkies bullied by Easter Eggers

[ka_chickens]

So, I need some help. I have three easter egger hens. They are about a year and a half old. They seem to be pretty docile birds so I figured that when I introduced three new silkie birds (2 hens, 1 rooster) to the flock it would be okay. I was told that easter eggers generally are okay to introduce new birds to and since silkies are naturally bullied I figured introducing three should give them enough comradery. I was wrong. The "top dog" out of the easter eggers keeps bullying my silkies. Any time they try to eat or drink they get pecked at and the silkies are obviously terrified and I am afraid they are not eating and drinking as much as they need to. They just huddle in a corner when the big birds come around and I feel so bad for them. I added additional water and food to "their side" of the coop so they don't die of starvation but now the big hens are coming over to their side and bullying them away from their own food. The rooster kind of helps to protect the other silkies but really isn't the best at it yet since they are still pretty young. I am hoping someone can reassure me that all of my chickens will eventually be okay once the pecking order is established or if I need to permanently separate the two groups. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to help my little babies? Thank you.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

We blend chicks with hens and hens and roosters, and generally what you're doing with separate food/water station helps, as does the pen that has the rooster.

I have one pen with four hens and a dozen chickens, none of them are there's, aged about a month to two months. One hen is above the others in bullying. I'm watching this and if it continues, I'm taking her out.

If you have one main ringleader, that's what I'd suggest you do too. I'll remove mine for about a week in a smaller secure pen we have. She can see them, they can see her. I'll put her back after a week and see how she acts.

The other hens will bully them away from the feeders too, but not chase them like she does. They eventually go to both feeders anyway when the hens are done.

These chicks and chickens I speak of are all silkies of various ages.

 

[N F C]

Hi, hope the suggestions @Debbie292d made work out for you...good luck!

 

[ka_chickens]

Hi,

We blend chicks with hens and hens and roosters, and generally what you're doing with separate food/water station helps, as does the pen that has the rooster.

I have one pen with four hens and a dozen chickens, none of them are there's, aged about a month to two months. One hen is above the others in bullying. I'm watching this and if it continues, I'm taking her out.

If you have one main ringleader, that's what I'd suggest you do too. I'll remove mine for about a week in a smaller secure pen we have. She can see them, they can see her. I'll put her back after a week and see how she acts.

The other hens will bully them away from the feeders too, but not chase them like she does. They eventually go to both feeders anyway when the hens are done.

These chicks and chickens I speak of are all silkies of various ages.

What kind of pen would you recommend? And do I need to put a nesting box in the pen? I guess if she is only in there for about a week I dont need to build something extravagant.

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Good luck with the flock integration.

 

[muddy75]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Jener8or]

Hello! I hope you can keep us updated with how your flock merging goes! I would follow @Debbie292d's good advice and check back in if that girl still doesn't want to keep her "hands" to herself after a time-out. I don't know how easy it would be to split their run up, but you could try to keep the two groups separated by fences for awhile, then try putting them together later.

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!

 

[Debbie292d]

What kind of pen would you recommend? And do I need to put a nesting box in the pen? I guess if she is only in there for about a week I dont need to build something extravagant.

Our pen is a parrot aviary four feet from the huge growout pen these four hens and chicks are in.

If I didn't have that, I've got a couple of other places to put her, but if nothing else, I'd use an XL dog kennel. That's what many of us use as a broody jail. In her case, she's not broody, so put straw down so that she's not walking on the wires. If she has to lay an egg, she can lay one there anywhere or you could make her a nest in the corner.

This is our broody jail. So that they don't knock/scratch their food over, there's a metal bucket with hooks on it that attaches to the cage. For water, so they don't tip that over, it's a verticle nipple bottle attached to the top. If you don't have these types of items, wire the feeder and waterer securely or she'll likely tip them. You'll see a 2x4 on the ground. That's all they get, but like I mentioned, for yours, I'd put straw or something down as she's not broody.


This is in our breeding coop, so extremely secure. If you do this, just put it in the coop, garage, or somewhere she's not vulnerable to predators.

 

[ka_chickens]

Our pen is a parrot aviary four feet from the huge growout pen these four hens and chicks are in.

If I didn't have that, I've got a couple of other places to put her, but if nothing else, I'd use an XL dog kennel. That's what many of us use as a broody jail. In her case, she's not broody, so put straw down so that she's not walking on the wires. If she has to lay an egg, she can lay one there anywhere or you could make her a nest in the corner.

This is our broody jail. So that they don't knock/scratch their food over, there's a buck with hooks on it that attaches to the cage. For water, so they don't tip that over, it's a verticle nipple bottle attached to the top. If you don't have these types of items, wire the feeder and waterer securely or she'll likely tip them. You'll see a 2x4 on the ground. That's all they get, but like I mentioned, for yours, I'd put straw or something down as she's not broody.
View attachment 4176743

This is in our breeding coop, so extremely secure. If you do this, just put it in the coop, garage, or somewhere she's not vulnerable to predators.

Awesome! Sounds like a plan. I think I will watch her for a couple more days and I will put her in jail if she doesn't behave. I will try to keep you updated thank you!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Nice to meet you.
Good luck with the integration.