Lonely chicken?

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Hi all

I'm new, I was looking for some advice, hopefully someone can help.

We had three girls but sadly only have one left now. Her last sister died a couple of months ago and ever since she's taken to hiding inside her coop pretty much all day – she does pop out occasionally for food and drink.

Bit of background into her as well, she survived a fox attack last year, she's a bit more timid because of that and struggles to jump up into her coop anymore as one of her wings was injured (I've built her a ramp). She moulted late into last year and doesn't seem to have fully recovered yet, she's got spikes but her feathers don't seem to be filling in.

So, should we be worried about her hiding inside all day? It might just be that she's cold as it's winter and her feather haven't filled out...

We were thinking of getting a/some more hens, partly just to keep her company – is this a bad idea? Would maybe one new friend help? We're considering rescue birds so it wouldn't be a new chick/pullet. We only have the one coop/run though so I was worried about just throwing another hen in and them fighting, I don't think our girl has it in her anymore.

Any advice much appreciated!
Thanks.

 

[featheredplanets]

She definitely needs friends, chickens are social animals. I think you should be aiming for no less than two new friends, if you get one and something happened, you’ll be left with yet another lonely chicken. I would say go for pullets, if you get unsexed chicks you’ll have the issue of rehoming cockerels, young pullets would be better than hens as your hen knows the ropes, she can boss them about. If you get two/three rescues, you’d want to buddy her up with one then integrate the rest into her coop/run, integration isn’t just throwing them all together. How big is your coop and run? What are you feeding her? Sounds like the protein in her feed is too low.

 

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I hadn't thought of getting pullets so she could boss them about, thats a good point!

Run wise we have an eglu (these are looked down on a bit aren't they? ). She has layers pellets in her run and then we give her a bit or corn and/or mealworms once or twice a day.

 

[SueT]

Hi, welcome to BYC. I think Eglu's are cool. You could introduce a newcomer by improvising a temporary divider and see how they get along.
Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

Hi all

I'm new, I was looking for some advice, hopefully someone can help.

We had three girls but sadly only have one left now. Her last sister died a couple of months ago and ever since she's taken to hiding inside her coop pretty much all day – she does pop out occasionally for food and drink.

Bit of background into her as well, she survived a fox attack last year, she's a bit more timid because of that and struggles to jump up into her coop anymore as one of her wings was injured (I've built her a ramp). She moulted late into last year and doesn't seem to have fully recovered yet, she's got spikes but her feathers don't seem to be filling in.

So, should we be worried about her hiding inside all day? It might just be that she's cold as it's winter and her feather haven't filled out...

We were thinking of getting a/some more hens, partly just to keep her company – is this a bad idea? Would maybe one new friend help? We're considering rescue birds so it wouldn't be a new chick/pullet. We only have the one coop/run though so I was worried about just throwing another hen in and them fighting, I don't think our girl has it in her anymore.

Any advice much appreciated!
Thanks.

Chickens are very social animals. I would buy a few more hens (at least 2) incase something happens again to a hen so they aren't alone.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Run wise we have an eglu (these are looked down on a bit aren't they? ). She has layers pellets in her run and then we give her a bit or corn and/or mealworms once or twice a day.

Yes, kind of, because they are very small(for more than a few birds) and expensive...but they work fine for some folks. Adding new birds to an eglu setup would be very difficult, as is small number integrations.

Might want to cut out the scratch, they need extra protein to grow in new feathers.
The mealworms are a good source of animal protein,
make sure she has adequate sized granite grit to get the most out of them.
What is the protein level of your layer feed?

Adding birds works best with extra and separate but adjacent space.
The smaller the space the more difficult to integrate.
I find adding chicks the easiest, but have a good set up to do so.

Here's some tips and links to start learning about integration.
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

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Thanks for all the advice everyone! Lots to think on. Sounds like it's going to be hard to introduce new hens at all, and even pullets given our current small run.

For now we'll keep our current girl on the mealworms rather than corn and start looking into a new run maybe that can go next to the old while we introduce new birds.

 

[featheredplanets]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Lots to think on. Sounds like it's going to be hard to introduce new hens at all, and even pullets given our current small run.

For now we'll keep our current girl on the mealworms rather than corn and start looking into a new run maybe that can go next to the old while we introduce new birds.

Mealworms have quite a high fat content, be sure not to overdo it. You might want to find a layer feed with 18%+ protein, or just switch to a grower feed and provide free choice oyster shell. Other high protein treats/supplements you can give her: cooked eggs, fish meal, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sprouted lentils, crickets, locusts and cat food.

 

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Checked the layers pellets and they're 16% protein. I'll look at some of the suggestions posted to increase it. Thanks again all.

 

[azygous]

I believe your best option in the short term would be to get a single rescue hen. Introducing a single adult hen would be as simple as just putting her with the present hen and allowing them to come to terms with each other. Since there would be but two individuals, the reckoning would be short and sweet unless, by rare misfortune one turns out to be overly aggressive.

Be aware that chickens do crave the proximity of other chickens even if they have an adversarial relationship. The security of feeling part of a flock outweighs all needs for "friendship".