Duplex ok for single chicken?

[JandJfarm]

Hi Everyone,
We have a chicken who has had a rough go in life. She is at the bottom of the pecking order where she is constantly being picked on to the point of blood as well as being the clumsiest chicken to have ever lived.
She does not hang out with the others a lot and has recently hurt herself seriously. A year ago when we expanded our coop and run we built a "duplex" inside in case we ever needed to separate some chickens.
We know chickens are meant to be with a flock and shouldn't be in isolation forever, but she keeps getting picked on, is this enough closeness to the flock while keeping her permanently safe? We are worried about her long term mental health and if she would still feel like she is apart of the flock living like this. She would not be roosting with the flock. She has her own roost bar inside her portion of the coop.
We thought about adding another chick with her but then thought we would just be repeating the cycle of separated chickens.
Her duplex run portion is 3'x6' and the inside coop is 3'x5'.
Thanks for your input

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

That sounds like a great solution to me! I’ve had to do similar with special needs chickens. Is there one friend from the flock that could potentially go in with her? If not that’s ok just keep an eye on her and if she seems depressed you might consider getting a pullet or two for her.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If she can see, hear and smell the other chickens, and talk to them, then she is not effectively isolated from them. By which I mean to say, she is not socially isolated. But she is safe while still enjoying their company. This looks like a marvelous solution to me! This is what we call a "see-no-touch" setup. Perhaps in time, say in a month or so, you might try putting her back in gen pop and see how it goes. If that does not go well, you might take a gentle hen from low on the pecking order and put her in with your isolated hen. Then, after a couple of weeks, try putting the two of them in gen pop together. Often, it's easier to integrate two than a "lonely only."