Hello from beautiful British Columbia.

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redrose

redrose

Hatching
7 Years
Mar 27, 2012
2
0
7
Victoria, BC
Just getting started in learning about raising chickens in the back yard. We recently moved into a house with a small chicken coop with 1 lone hen. We want to have about 6 laying hens out there....So happy to find BackYard Chickens and learn all I need to know.
This one hen hasn't laid all winter and we are thinking she is too old....She has free range on the property and doesn't like to stay in her coop. She flies out.... She digs out of her hen house and jumps up on the roof to fly out of her penned area. She eats and pecks at the ground.... We have feed for her but we think a raccoon is eating it....The plan is to secure her coop & hen house so that she will be safe at night...Will she get along with new hens we introduce into the coop.... Thanks for listening....would love to hear any feedback. p.s. we put a mirror in her coop and she loves looking at herself....
 
Welcome to BYC! It is possible that your hen may be past her prime laying years, but it could be that it's because it is winter, and without supplemental light, most chickens stop laying in the winter. Also it could be that she has a hiding place somewhere where she free ranges that she's hiding the eggs. They are sneaky little things lol.

When it comes to introducing her to new hens, she should be fine after a brief introductory period of figuring out who's top dog (so to speak). Chickens are social creatures and (in my opinion) like company. You can search for adding birds to a flock on BYC for all kinds of tips. I just add new birds to my flock after dark and have never had any issues.

Good luck and glad you're here!
 
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from Alabama. Glad you joined us.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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When I introduce new birds, they go into a small pen inside the coop for the first few days, to orient them and allow all the birds to get used to each other. Then remove them from the pen after dark and just set them on the perch.
 
Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.... I am so happy to be able to come and say hi and seek out help and find solutions to things that may come up with having chickens. My husband is now securing the pen for our lonely girl who seems to have become great friends with my DH. He is now constantly being watched & followed along by our 2 cats & chicken (they are all getting along so well together - amazing!) it is a sight to see!

talk to you again soon.
bye
 

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