cluelesschickmother
Chirping
I will preface by saying that I am a first time chicken owner (but long time animal rescuer) from the city and desperately need help!!
I ordered 5 buff silkie chickens at the end of June from an online supplier and they all amazingly arrived healthy and adorable. They immediately took to each other and despite giving them never ending love, treats and a wonderful warm home, never seemed to love us! We kept hoping that would change but they hate us more with each day and they are 13 weeks now.
We moved them outside into a massive coop and let them free range on our 4 acres at around 9 weeks. We almost always were watching them and if we left them alone it wasn’t for more then a few minutes. Well of course during a quick trip inside a few weeks ago, our hen was killed by a hawk (our favorite one of course!!). She was one of only two hens of the five straight run we received. We mourned and then searched and searched for a silkie pullet replacement.
Lo and behold we found a 5 month partridge silkie show pullet for sale 4 hours away and drove out the next day to pick her up. She had a totally different disposition, temperament, look and even sound. She is docile, affectionate, loving and loves being pet like a lap cat. Not to mention, she is the prettiest bird I’ve ever seen! She is exactly what we were hoping for in the first place.
Now onto the help... we can’t seem to get our mean 13 week old prison yard chickens to get along with our sweet docile 5 (almost 6 month) silkie pullet and it’s made her (and us) really depressed. We tried the cage method, free ranging, everything. It’s been two weeks and they are less aggressive towards her but just won’t accept her as part of their flock. She never stops trying to “blend in” by standing close to the group hoping they won’t notice she’s there. Since she is submissive and docile by nature I really wasn’t expecting it to be such an issue.
Now onto our second problem... since the mean juvenile flock won’t accept her, we have created a home for her in our green room where it’s warm and cozy. Seeing her so alone at night after a days of pecking and social rejection in the chicken run was making her increasingly sad. So... we had the brilliant idea of buying her two more chicks!! They are three week old splash silkies. We were told silkies are natural mothers and she would take the chicks as her own... a win win! She regains family and friends and we get two new chicks!
Well, it didn’t work out. We brought the chicks home tonight and our pullet just went after them, pecking and screaming. I was shocked! I have never seen her show aggression, even when she gets picked on and rejected every day by a gang of mean (and much younger) chicks!
What should we do?? I am about ready to throw in the towel and give them all away, it’s just been very discouraging, stressful and heartbreaking. Why can’t everyone just be happy?!
Now we have three groups of chicks!! We have our four 13 week old prison yard chicks (3 roosters and 1 hen), our beautiful, needy and docile 5 1/2 month docile pullet (who sooo desperately wants to be part of the mean flock), and now two very cute (and smart!!) three week old splash silkies who are happy as can be.
The worst part is that the splash silkies now are in the small green room in a brooder and the 5 1/2 month pullet has been displaced to the living room and won’t stop wailing!! It’s so sad!!
Long story short... help. I need to create peace here because we’ve really bonded with this sweet pullet and she’s just so sad now, having been both rejected, isolated and now displaced. I was hoping to have her raise these chicks but maybe it’s more realistic to try to get her into the outdoor coop? Any thoughts on any of the above would be much appreciated!
I ordered 5 buff silkie chickens at the end of June from an online supplier and they all amazingly arrived healthy and adorable. They immediately took to each other and despite giving them never ending love, treats and a wonderful warm home, never seemed to love us! We kept hoping that would change but they hate us more with each day and they are 13 weeks now.
We moved them outside into a massive coop and let them free range on our 4 acres at around 9 weeks. We almost always were watching them and if we left them alone it wasn’t for more then a few minutes. Well of course during a quick trip inside a few weeks ago, our hen was killed by a hawk (our favorite one of course!!). She was one of only two hens of the five straight run we received. We mourned and then searched and searched for a silkie pullet replacement.
Lo and behold we found a 5 month partridge silkie show pullet for sale 4 hours away and drove out the next day to pick her up. She had a totally different disposition, temperament, look and even sound. She is docile, affectionate, loving and loves being pet like a lap cat. Not to mention, she is the prettiest bird I’ve ever seen! She is exactly what we were hoping for in the first place.
Now onto the help... we can’t seem to get our mean 13 week old prison yard chickens to get along with our sweet docile 5 (almost 6 month) silkie pullet and it’s made her (and us) really depressed. We tried the cage method, free ranging, everything. It’s been two weeks and they are less aggressive towards her but just won’t accept her as part of their flock. She never stops trying to “blend in” by standing close to the group hoping they won’t notice she’s there. Since she is submissive and docile by nature I really wasn’t expecting it to be such an issue.
Now onto our second problem... since the mean juvenile flock won’t accept her, we have created a home for her in our green room where it’s warm and cozy. Seeing her so alone at night after a days of pecking and social rejection in the chicken run was making her increasingly sad. So... we had the brilliant idea of buying her two more chicks!! They are three week old splash silkies. We were told silkies are natural mothers and she would take the chicks as her own... a win win! She regains family and friends and we get two new chicks!
Well, it didn’t work out. We brought the chicks home tonight and our pullet just went after them, pecking and screaming. I was shocked! I have never seen her show aggression, even when she gets picked on and rejected every day by a gang of mean (and much younger) chicks!
What should we do?? I am about ready to throw in the towel and give them all away, it’s just been very discouraging, stressful and heartbreaking. Why can’t everyone just be happy?!
Now we have three groups of chicks!! We have our four 13 week old prison yard chicks (3 roosters and 1 hen), our beautiful, needy and docile 5 1/2 month docile pullet (who sooo desperately wants to be part of the mean flock), and now two very cute (and smart!!) three week old splash silkies who are happy as can be.
The worst part is that the splash silkies now are in the small green room in a brooder and the 5 1/2 month pullet has been displaced to the living room and won’t stop wailing!! It’s so sad!!
Long story short... help. I need to create peace here because we’ve really bonded with this sweet pullet and she’s just so sad now, having been both rejected, isolated and now displaced. I was hoping to have her raise these chicks but maybe it’s more realistic to try to get her into the outdoor coop? Any thoughts on any of the above would be much appreciated!
Attachments
Last edited:
Glad you joined. 
