AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Firstly we had our first death, little silkie Lulu got sick, stopped eating, her neck went crazy and she died within hours It was very traumatic and heartbreakingly sad when my boys buried her under the peach tree complete with flowers

Since then we decided to get two new 10 week old silkies, a pure white one, Violet and a pure black one, fuzzy and they are adorable. They have teamed up with poor lonely Dizzy, who was being picked on by the other 3 BIG chooks. Well, its gone horribly because the big chooks absoutely peck the carp out of the silkies, poor Dizz tries to protect them but its getting a bit horrible, any suggestions?

We have also moved them out of a very small enclosure (where they slept, but free range during the day) into "Chookingham Palace" which is a large stable that we have converted complete with automatic sliding door, BUT the big girls refuse to use the roosts, they keep (out of habit and being a bit thick) sleeping (and pooping ) in the nest boxes which are down just off the floor. The silkies, bless them have worked out that they can all squeeze cosily on the bottom roost and are happy, well till first light when WW3 begins! For the last 3 weeks I have gone in and placed the big ones on their roosts but Im getting over it! Any ideas?

Thanks all

I would suggest you separate the large breeds from the silkies as I never feel that is ever a good idea to have them together. In my experience the larger hens like isa and other commercial breeds they are dominant over other smaller breeds and they express it by pecking

In my experience the large chooks can get along fine with the silkies but you can't put 10 week olds in with everyone else, they are just too small. I would seperate all the silkies until the 2 new ones are fully grown and then reintroduce them all as a unit if you want to. There will be some sorting of the pecking order again when you do reintroduce them but hopefully it won't be too bad. The other thing that has been suggested lately is to put a rooster in with the girls to sort out the problem, I still wouldn't put them all together until the new ones are bigger though.

Exactly not a wise move with any breed of fowl


George

once fully grown and integrated the Silkies will most likely be the bosses but DO keep them seperate untill then

Yes, I just found that out the hard way too!

Thanks everyone, thats what I have done and they are ok, in the day they are roaming together and the big ones are behaving better.
Any tips on getting the big ones to roost, or are they just too set in their ways?

You could try blocking off the nest box at night so they can't get access and then once they've settled down for the evening and are pretty docile, pick them up and place them on the roost you want them to use. You may need to do this for some time but they will wake up in the morning on the place you want them to be, often they get the picture. At the very least block off the nest box, that will force them to look for an alternative.

Thanks wicked wings I have been doing it for weeks though and they still arent geting it!

OMG have had a nightmare week....the chooks kept escaping into the back paddock, so have had no eggs and cannot find the nest or where they were escaping from. Sadly we found where they were escaping from the da before yesterday when our two new babies were snatched through said hole in the night The ONE night I didnt put them into the coop (the big ones go in by themselves and they werent touched) as I was sick, hubby away and sadly I slept for virtually 24 hrs straight. Went down to feathers all over next doors garden Anyway said hole is now fully fenced off and the big 3 are going nuts this morning trying to get through, so know there are eggs somewhere in the paddock Arrrghh, I just want healthy living chickens who lay eggs where they are supposed to and sleep where they are supposed to and am feeling very sad and sooo guilty too

Not a nice thing to get up to, especially after being sick. I'm sorry you lost your chooks