Chicken behavior

[Linda4949]

We recently added one new chicken to our existing one chicken. We separated the coop and outside run giving them two areas divided by fencing to get acquainted with each other. The older hen is not doing well at all and has practically stopped eating. The new hen is a smaller one and is scared to the point we can't get near her. After 10 days, she will come a little closer to get scratch. The older one won't even touch it. The new hen lays eggs regularly, the older one stopped 4 days ago. The new one sleeps in the nesting box, so we blocked it off today and she moved to the floor of the roost. The older hen sleeps on the roosting bar. I am at a loss on what to do. I was hoping to put them together after two weeks, but now I don't know. Any advice??

 

[Kiki]

Has your original chicken always been by herself..a single chicken?

 

[haileyeverhart]

How old is the oldest hen? Its not a good sign that she doesnt wanna do anything especially eat.

 

[haileyeverhart]

And some chickens prefer being off on their own. Most of my chickens do but eventually group up sometimes. Chickens have different personalities but you should always purchase them in pairs so they have a definite best friend.

 

[Linda4949]

No we started with two chickens three years ago and added her with them two years ago. We lost one of the hens from being egg bound several months after we added Red. Then the other hen, Annie, had numerous health issues that we seemed to pull her through, but she became ill and we tried different things, but she died April 1st. We received the new chicken from a friend of ours on April 5th. We thought it would have helped her, but she is more stressed over this change than I anticipated.

 

[haileyeverhart]

Oh yes new chickens are very stressful for the first few days. Give it time but Id be more worried about her health atm.

 

[Linda4949]

The oldest hen is about 3 1/2 years old. The newer chicken is a little over 1 year old. We got the RIR from a friend whose chickens were pecking her and ganging up on her, and then two years later we get a hen from another friend because her chickens were picking on this one and causing injuries to her.