Is my chicken lonely?

[gsim]

They like to be around each other for sure most of the time.

When mine arrived in the mail, I had to teach each to drink. So I did the first one and set her in the water in her new box/move after getting her to drink twice. She drank a little on her own, and then hopped out and began to cry. No doubt, she was crying. Soon I put one of her other 24 flock-mates in with her, and immediately her crying changed to peep-peeping and I heard no more of the crying again.

I also have a crippled runt and one day I took her to my garden as a treat. She made her way to the 5 ft tall fence nearest to the run where her flock-mates were and stayed there staring that direction. Shortly, she flew to the top of that 5 ft fence and perched on it. I went and got her down and took her to the run.

We have had escapees that slip out of the gate when we are careless entering with treats. They always follow the perimeter of the run and eat the grass outside and never go over 4 ft or so from the fence and just follow it around, usually in a clockwise direction.

So, that is what I have observed with my chooks, and they do seem to be social creatures and like crowds better than I do.

 

[xjchief]

Okay it's getting even worse. She paces back and forth in her coop obviously upset. The only thing that calms her down is if I let her perch on my arm or sit in my lap. She's definitely got a severe case of separation anxiety. The people we got her from have a RIR that I'll be picking up tomorrow morning. I'll try and do a crash course in adding a new bird.

And here I thought I was bringing home a bird that would be happy to peck around the yard contently. I though a chicken would be like a really big parakeet. Wrong!

 

[Renee]

Good luck introducing the new bird, and don't get discouraged if it takes them a while to warm up to each other.

 

[xjchief]

I don't know if chickens have any kind of memory but these two birds used to be in the same flock about 3 weeks ago. Hope that helps.

 

[Amelia'sFan]

One of our neighbor’s chickens has been coming to our yard by herself each morning since summer, spending the whole day here by herself, leaving us eggs, and returning to the neighbor's flock at night. But a few days ago, she started spending the night in our shed. We think she is an outcast - all the other chickens have red on their faces. Amelia (we named her that because she flies solo) has no red on her face. Perhaps it was pecked off by the others. We have never had chickens before but have been reading about their care, as we are crazy about Amelia. And we are concerned. Can she survive and be happy all alone? She seems like a loner.

 

[FortWorthChicks]

oops... didn't read those last post.

Happy you found her a friend and yes it will be shocking to watch them re-meet but soon they will be bragging to eachother about the bugs they find and dirt bathing together happily

Kind regards!!

 

[FortWorthChicks]

Amelia'sFan :

Can she survive and be happy all alone? She seems like a loner.

Not really... but good thing is if you find her a friend she will be the boss of her new home because she was there first!

How sweet of you to allow her to set up camp at your place

 

[fancbrd4me02]

(Amelia) Sounds like she might be going broody. Is she up high roosting in the shed, or sitting on the ground, in a snug spot, bucket, box, etc?

 

[xjchief]

Update:

We brought home the RIR yesterday morning (Torry) and she and Mele seem to get along just fine. I know we should have waited 10 days but since they are from the same backyard flock I figured we'd risk it. They both seem to be content to peck around the yard most of the time and keep each other company.

 

[dovecanyon]

Congrats! Getting the friend was the right thing to do. Glad to hear that everyone seems happy now. (BTW, I wouldn't have quarantined either...

)