Lone Hen

[gsgosselin]

I have a friend with one chicken. She wants to introduce another chicken so she won't be lonely.
Will they fight? Should the new one be slightly younger? Maybe add two from another flock so there won't be an established pecking order?

 

[Talithahorse]

You can certainly add one or more chickens to the flock and she will likely be happier with friends. When introducing new chickens it is best if they are close to the same size. When you only have one, you could probably just add the other one at night to the coop. If you want to be extra careful you could set it up so that they are in individual pens but can see each other for a couple of days first. Once they are familiar with each other, then they should integrate together fairly easily. It helps to have more than one food or waterer while they are adjusting and space to get away from each other if needed. There are lots of resources here that will give you more information and other opinions as well. Use the search button to search or look for articles on your topic of interest. I am sure others will chime in with other ideas.

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd go for adding two more birds, personally. Here's some links that may be interesting:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1098683/introducing-new-chickens-to-old-flock#post_16895615