lonely pullet

[mrsfilmman5]

hi there, I have a small flock with different aged chickens. Everyone seems to have a friend except one 15 week old barred Plymouth Rock. My group contains 2 six month EE's, 3 20week old Sulmtalers, and a 12 week old silkie and frizzle. She is in an age group by herself because i bought her in a group of straight run chicks...the others were roosters

Anyway, the older girls have started laying and are just old enough and big enough to keep her on the bottom of the pecking order. The 2 bantams have each other to stick with and keep out of trouble from the bigger girls. Any suggestions for this lonely barred Rock? Should I try and find a bird similar in age maybe even the same breed to pair with her? Or should i just give it time?

 

[chooks4life]

Probably best to just give it time, they will eventually likely come to view one another as 'flock' even if they may not become chummy. Adding more animals, even of the same age or breed, is potentially just more competition and stress for her, as introducing new animals shuffles the entire hierarchy, so she will have to fight to establish her new ranking or retain her old one, which may result in her losing and ending up under another chicken on the hierarchy. The severity of the battles depends on a few things including their socialization and instinct levels but genetics have a fair bit to do with aggression, particularly from certain family lines.

Most chickens are not overly affectionate with others, all they really need is the companionship and presence of the others. Some become friends but plenty are loners by nature or circumstance. When she starts laying she's probably going to go through some personality change due to the hormone levels and may end up top hen.

Generally chooks are more likely to find comfort in having a mate and offspring than they are in having other females to live with, since the natural family unit is basically female, male, chicks. More females may be part of that but they're not the foundation of it, the basic foundation for the species is the family unit. Still, all that depends on the male/s you get and the females, some hens (particularly layer breeds) have little instinct to deal with males or chicks and have no interest in or time for either so can find it stressful or a provocation.

Best wishes.

 

[mrsfilmman5]

thanks for the info! she seems to be holding her for the most part. so ill hold off on finding her a friend.

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome, hope things work out well for you.

Best wishes.