Can chickens mourn? :S

[LizzieJ]

Hi one of our flock of red shavers died about 5-6 weeks ago and we havent had a single egg out of the rest of the girls since...............im not worried about my pullets they arent at POL yet but my 1 yr old red shavers havent laid a single egg since we lost our other girl........................im giving them poultry spice as a friend who keeps chickens on a much grander scale than me suggested but i have no idea what to do!
thier housing is clean well ventilated, warm and dry, they have plenty of food (better fed than us) and water and lots of space to run around in, im at a total loss now as we have 11 chickens and 3 ducks and get one duck egg per day! (two of the ducks are drakes so the ducks obviously havent been effected lol)
Any advice greatly appreciated
Liz xx

 

[teach1rusl]

My opinion is that yes, chickens can mourn a lost flockmate just like dogs or cats will mope/wander around as if they're lost when they lose a buddy. Did the chicken just die, or was it predator related? Predator attacks will certainly stress a flock, often resulting in laying stopping for a period. Even if the fockmate just died, chickens hate change, and a flockmate disappearing is change... Sorry, but I have no suggestions other than have patience.

 

[LizzieJ]

Just became suddenly ill and died, no predators involved
thank you for the reply