Worried about my Silkie chick in a flock of standards

[hotchickmama]

Okay, so I ordered 6 chicks from MPC- I had originally intended to get 3 silkies,and 3 standards, but they called and said not enough female silkies had hatched so I cancelled the silkies and opted for all standards.

So, my peeping box arrives and what is inside- 5 of the standards I had ordered and one lone silkie. Go figure.

She's wonderful and fuzzy but SO different from the other chicks- so much quieter and calmer- she is eating and drinking and preening herself but seems to spend more time alone than the others do. The other chicks are not picking on her (she is about half their size) but the others are much more aggressive about eating and she ends up on the sidelines. She spends much more time sitting under the heat lamp than the others. I put in an extra food dish so she can get her share. She also seems much more easily upset (she freaks out even if I take one of the other chicks out of the brooder). She keeps trying to get under them like they're her mother.

Pardon my new chick mother paranoia, but is this poor silkie going to forever be the outcast being the only bantam in the flock? Is she likely to get picked on when they get older?
And is it normal for her to act so differently from the other chicks?

One more question- I'm also worried that she's going to end up as hawk/owl bait being so much smaller than the others? We have a fenced property that I had intended to let them free range on during the day once grown. We do have some small hawks up here, I had figured they probably wouldn't take on an 8 lb hen, but a 3 lb silkie?

I adore her, but I don't want her to be a miserable outcast

Becky in So. Ca- 2 turkens, 1 EE, 1 RIR, 1BR, and one pathetic looking silkie

 

[Catalina]

I have one silkie and she gets along fine with the other standard hens. However, her mother (the hen that hatched her) is a bantam EE and she chases Pixie, my silkie, and is really mean to her.

Silkies are usually very calm and quiet. Pixie would rather sit and look at things, unlike the other hens who are busy scratching around.

She's almost 5 months old and weighs 2 lbs.

 

[artsyrobin]

i working with a silkie now that was with standards- and she had gotten injured, but hadn't been raised with them, that might make a difference- my understanding is the have a hole in their skull which makes them very vulnerable to injury. If it were me, just how i feel about it, i would keep them seperate and maybe get her a banty buddy, or another silkie. less chance of injury that way- here is a link to my little mopsy and her slow recovery-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgortonart/sets/72157621771410087/

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

There are some folks who have raised silkies with standards. But i personally would not put them together. Pecking is a natural thing for a chicken, and one peck on the head from a giant beak and a silkie could get killed or suffer serious brain injury.

Plus, most all of my adult silkies like to huddle on the floor of the coop. Standard chickens tend to roost. Things could get ugly for that poor silkie sleeping underneath the other big birds at night.

Why not get a couple more silkies to keep her company?

 

[silverlining]

Oh no, i hate to say it but...

We had two Silkies mixed in with our 6 EE/Brahmas, and they ALWAYS kept to themselves and were afraid of the bigger birds. Then, one of the Silkies passed away (no visible reason) and the other one is now lonely and sad. It refuses to associate with the other chickens (even though they were all raised together) and follows us everywhere it can, trying to get us to spend time with it. So, we are sadly rehoming it to a place with other Silkies so it can have friends. We're super sad because it is our favorite. It loves to cuddle, or just follow us around.

 

[artsyrobin]

i had two silkies like that, they were house chickens, one we lost, and the other one a week later- i assume from a broken heart- if it were me i'd try to find your silkie another silkie as a buddy- just what i would do

 

[Jenski]

And so it begins . . . the Quest for More Chickens.

Welcome aboard.

(I too would get more silkies, and/or keep them separated. Why not start a banty pen too? They are a blast. I have three coops now . . .)

 

[ChickyLaura]

I have all my Silkies in with my standards, and they do just fine. Although, it is more than one Silkie, so that I don't know. My Silkie roosters are, well, roosters. I can't really say they're that much different than standard roosters, although none of my roosters (so far) are aggressive towards us.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

I ordered some Silkies from a hatchery months ago and when I received them, all but one died. They were in bad shape when they arrived and only the one chick made it. I raised her with other chicks because I didn't want her to be alone. She did fine with the others, but now she is mean. I have other Silkies with her now. They are all gentle and sweet, but the one that was raised with other chickens is mean. I don't know for sure that this is the reason why, but she just does not act the same as my other Silkies. I have been holding and petting her for a while every afternoon, whether she likes it or not.

This seems to have calmed her down a bit.

Anyway, I got off track. My main point is that she did fine with other chickens.

 

[Zahboo]

I wouldn't be worried. We have Hecuba, my bantam Blue Red and she RULES the coop. Mean little girl. She's tiny and will set ANYONE in their place.