Adding started pullets to flock of two...and what happens if I get down to one?

[StephanieC]

Predation has reduced my original flock of 5 down to two laying hens. My coop is good for 4 hens. They free range in a limited area during the day and coop is for sleeping only.

I am ok with two chickens, we get just enough eggs. And I know what to do, from reading here, to add to my flock of two, but what happens if I get down to one chicken? I assume a chicken will be unhappy with a solitary life? Since newcomers have to be quarantined, if I lose one of my two (really it isn't if, it's when) and have a solitary chicken she will be that way for a month. So should I add two new chickens now, while I still have two?

And if I get in a situation where I have only one of my original chickens and I add two or three newcomers, will they go after my hen rather than she putting them in their place, since they are a group and she is one?

 

[Den in Penn]

How old are the two remaining hens? Remembering that as a hen ages she will lay less eggs. If they are only a year old you can easily wait a year or two till you add new blood to the coop. With the predation I think I would add now. The ones you have may not last a year. As to the three new comers vs the one oldster a lot would depend on how old she is when you introduce. A younger bird can hold her own as she ages it would become more problematic.

 

[StephanieC]

My two girls were a year old at Easter. I did also want to know if a single chicken would be very unhappy. Usually animals that live in groups don't do well solo but I wasn't sure about chickens.

 

[Den in Penn]

A single chicken can do alright by themselves for a while. I wouldn't say the whole chickens are flock animal is over blown, but they can and do survive on their own for a time. How hard it is on them depends on things like how close they were to their flock or their personality.

 

[FridayYet]

Any way you can provide a secure run? Might be better than continually replacing chickens, especially since the predators know where they live.

We have too many coyotes here to let mine free range unless they are supervised. Have been working on a more secure run but it's not predator proof yet, although the coop is.

 

[StephanieC]

I could make a run, I just don't want to keep them that way. And the ones I have, have never known anything but free ranging and I think they would be highly annoyed at being penned in. As it is, Honey flies over the fence whenever she feels like it, to range further out.

We have lost three chickens in a 14 months, in widely spaced intervals. Perhaps eventually I will decide a run is better, with different chickens than my babies I raised to be free.

 

[FridayYet]

I could make a run, I just don't want to keep them that way. And the ones I have, have never known anything but free ranging and I think they would be highly annoyed at being penned in. As it is, Honey flies over the fence whenever she feels like it, to range further out.

We have lost three chickens in a 14 months, in widely spaced intervals. Perhaps eventually I will decide a run is better, with different chickens than my babies I raised to be free.

That's understandable. Hope I didn't come across as critical, I was just curious.