Florentina is the remaining chicken in my flock, Enriqueta was just killed a couple of hours ago.. h

[gmrt77]

I live in Portland, OR in an urban setting. My Enriqueta (my plymouth rock) was just killed by something (I think it was a cat) that broke her neck. We have had racoons but we have not seen them in a while. She was out with Florentina (my buff orpington), and something took her. We found her next to the fence by the corner. Something had crawled in from the the other side. We found lots of feathers, but other than her neck, she was intact. Could this have been a cat? We have cats at home, but they were not outside, and they've never attempted to even chase them.

I'm also wondering what's next for our remaining chicken. I've read plenty about introducing chickens to existing flocks.. but didn't find anything about having one chicken left. Will she get lonely??? I need help with this question, more than anything. If you have any links or suggestions, I would very much appreciate it.

Florentina was the lowest of the pecking order, she was born around May 5 along with my other two chickens (both dead now). They were all laying eggs daily... I'm so shocked, that I don't even know what to say. Please, help... I know it will take time, but is introducing two other chikens worth it?

 

[N F C]

I'm sorry you lost your chicken, that's hard to go through. As for Florentina, your remaining bird, she will get lonely without companionship. Chickens are flock creatures so get Florentina a couple of chicken friends. You'll have to go through a brief integration period of "look but don't touch" for the birds to get used to each other but they will form a new flock and sort out the pecking order among themselves once they are all together.

Also, there are all sorts of predators that love chickens. Take immediate actions to predator-proof the coop and run as soon as possible. Here's a link that gives a lot of information on various predators and how to protect your chickens from them:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-predators-pests-how-to-protect-treat-your-flock

Good luck to you.