Re: bird "loneliness," our situation is a bit unique. A "wild" rooster wandered into our yard one day, obviously injured, and with a bandage around one leg. We can only guess that his owner -- perhaps a cockfighting breeder -- tossed him into the street when he was injured. We fixed him up at the vet and fenced in the yard, and he's been a wonderful, loyal, and interesting pet. But we have to let him come into the garage every night where he sleeps in a cage we built. We still feel a little nervous about leaving him outside overnight, where he might not be able to defend himself as well as a fully healthy bird.
My question is: He's the only chicken in the yard, but there are always dozens of other types of songbirds, doves, etc., around him who come to visit our water dishes & bird feeders. We'd like to get hiim some hens, but haven't figured out how to handle housing. Would the hens stay in an outside coop we've built, or would we have to repurpose our entire garage to keep them inside overnight? Still thinking about it.
Anyway, after nearly a year, our pampered roo (he'll let us pick him up & put him on our lap) continues to lead a mostly happy, safe life. But I know he'd love to have hens to keep him company. It may be months until we're able to seriously buy some more chickens, but in the interim, does anybody think that having so many other birds around (as well as our presence in the yard for several hours every day) are enough to keep him from being miserable and lonely? He's such a good bird, we'd hate to do that to him. But we didn't decide to own a chicken -- he picked us! -- and we're still trying to learn enough about the hobby to give him a good life.
Any educated opinions?
