Lone chicken

[Pav291]

Need some advice. I had 3 chickens. Last week one died very quickly. No symptoms, 11 years old! Then this week I had an ex batt hen lose the ability to stand. Took her to the vet today and agreed to put her down. Vet said it was neurological but without going to a specialist it was hard to tell if it was mareks. Vet advised speak to defra (they were not concerned and did not log it). But vet suggested maybe a quarantine period before getting a new chicken. My dilemma is I am going away for 10 days next week and I’m not around to keep popping into the garden to spend time with the lone chicken. Not sure what I should do. Risk getting another chicken or leaving a lone chicken. Each seems to have own issues and problems

 

[FrostRanger]

I would hold off on getting more chickens until you get back. Quarantining and integration will probably take a month and a half more or less so you're probably not going to have time to do that properly before you go. Leaving her alone isn't great, but it's probably better than a rushed integration since that can get ugly if not done properly

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

This time last year, I adopted two nine-month-old Leghorns, Lucy and Ethel. We lost Ethel to predation in April. I was devistated. Lucy, however, didn't make a big deal of it at first. She just clucked along, trying to keep her established schedule which included a fair bit of casually supervised time roaming around in the main backyard. It was only after about a week of being mostly confined to her run that I felt like Lucy really knew Ethel was gone. Of course, I have no way of knowing what was really going on in her bird brain.

I do know that she wanted little to do with me before we lost Ethel. After the first week, she started trying to warm up to me. It was several more days before she started persuing me for companionship. If there had been someone taking care of her for the first 10 days, I don't think she would have noticed it wasn't me feeding her.

My guess is that she will be fine alone for a few days as long as someone checks on her daily. If she's anything like Lucy was, she'll want to be your bestie when you get home from your trip.

Of course, this is all anecdotal and your hen may respond differently because of the age difference between our birds. I don't know. Either way, I wouldn't subject her to a coop-mate until you return. If you have the accommodations and a substitute carer, you could go ahead and get a couple or more hens into your quarantine program while you're away. I would get more than one, though.

I feel like this long response offered little in the way of help. I apologize for that. Condolences on both of your recent losses.

 

[Loving my girls]

I would hold off on getting more chickens until you get back. Quarantining and integration will probably take a month and a half more or less so you're probably not going to have time to do that properly before you go. Leaving her alone isn't great, but it's probably better than a rushed integration since that can get ugly if not done properly

I agree, I am getting Aster and Rose in ‘5 more sleeps’ and I know it will take two weeks of introduction at a distance followed by an unknown length of time before I am happy they are integrated into the coop happily.
Leave it til you get back and enjoy managing the introductions.