Adding another girl...

[dturren]

I just lost one of my girls to a fox and am thinking about adding another pullet to give the lone one someone to talk to. I am limited in space with an 8'X8' run and a 4'X6' coup.
I understand that you can't just put the new girl in with the old ones as they will peck her (which I don't want). I don't have another coup to keep her in (as was suggested by other entries). I could put her in a small dog cage inside the main run to keep her separate in the daytime, but what do I do with her at night? The other three girls go right into the coup at sundown. Should I bring her into my home at night until I see they are accepting her? All three current girls are very close as they were raised together. I was hoping they would think she was the one who was killed who has just returned. Any thoughts?

 

[mmajw]

You could try the seperate pen in the run so they have time to see eachother during the day, just make sure she has food and water and shade out there too.

Then I would introduce her to the flock at night while the others are roosting. They may peck some, as they are showing eachother their pecking order.

Just monitor them to make sure there aren't any injuries or open wounds and if there are remove her immediately to a safe pen.