We're down to one chicken, after losing our beautiful second to last hen to an injury. Our remaining girl seems bored & lonely without her best buddy. She doesn't even make her usual clucking noises anymore...just hides out in the bushes. (I know she's feeling okay though, because she still comes running for treats).
We have a friend with a large flock willing to spare 1-2 young hens. I guess my question is, how do we go about introducing new chickens to a flock of 1? Do we need to quarantine? Part of me thinks why bother, because our current hen is almost 5 and - although I certainly don't want her to get sick and die - I mostly just want her to be happy. Also, how violent are introductions in small flocks like this?
Complicating matters, we are leaving on a vacation pretty soon and I'm debating whether it's safer to 1) leave my moping/lonely chicken alone for a week, where she might just sit around and pick up mites or 2) add a new chicken(s) not knowing how they will get along when we're gone.
Any advice? Sorry for the long post.
We have a friend with a large flock willing to spare 1-2 young hens. I guess my question is, how do we go about introducing new chickens to a flock of 1? Do we need to quarantine? Part of me thinks why bother, because our current hen is almost 5 and - although I certainly don't want her to get sick and die - I mostly just want her to be happy. Also, how violent are introductions in small flocks like this?
Complicating matters, we are leaving on a vacation pretty soon and I'm debating whether it's safer to 1) leave my moping/lonely chicken alone for a week, where she might just sit around and pick up mites or 2) add a new chicken(s) not knowing how they will get along when we're gone.
Any advice? Sorry for the long post.