[Ben_H]

I have 6 hens all of which are full size birds except for Fluffy the mottled pekin. Lately she seems to be separating herself off from the rest of the flock, particularly at treat time and I'm worried that she is getting stepped on and perhaps needs a friend her own size. She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of ill health and I haven't noticed her getting picked on particularly. Her feathers seem in good nick, she drinks and eats as far as I can see and the only other thing I have spotted is that she seems to sleep more than the others during the day.

My long term plans did include getting a couple more pekins but not this year, though I'm sure I could be persuaded otherwise   Or some other bantams?

Any thoughts from Pekin keepers?

[daisy1990]

The advice I was given when choosing breeds was to stick to roughly same size hens to prevent smaller hens being bullied.  We have one smaller hen that we rescued that was introduced to our three existing hens and she was picked on.  We then got chicks and they bonded with the lone hen and made a separate group.  All the hens are now friendly to each other, but I do think it helped to have similar sized hens to integrate the lone hen.  If you are thinking of getting more hens and have the room I think the Pekin would appreciate the friends!

[Ben_H]

I asked when we got the hens and was told that pekins were birds that would hold their own as "they were unaware of their own small size and acted bigger". This was certainly true to start with however I think she just keeps getting stood on by accident.

I did spend a very pleasant couple of hours last night trawling the web for photos of bantams and looking for local breeders. Now just have to speak to other half when she gets back from her break at the inlaws today.