Molting ?s- also adding more hens

[Nancyjane]

I have 2 RIR hens. One has lost most of her feathers, the other seems to have all of her's,
What worries me is that both of their appetites have plumeted to almost nothing!
I give them some scratch and some mash each day, but they don't eat much of either. I still have some tomatoes and grapes in my garden and they do eat these, but I'm running out!
I don't recall the loss of appetite last year.
I would also like to add a couple of hens (I've heard if you have 2, add 2) Should I add them at night, separate them til they are all the same size, keep them separate for ever?....................
TIA Nancy

 

[SussexInSeattle]

Your profile doesn't say where you are to give some idea of your weather but when I raised new chicks, they stayed inside until I couldn't handle the smell anymore, then they went out in the barn with my established older 3 pullets. There were 7 babies out there and surprisingly, my Buff Brahma was the most difficult with them but she didn't peck them to death, she just chased them to watch them take off, then she lost interest. She chases them still every day but just to assert her bossy self, not to chase them non-stop.

Some say to introduce them behind wire and keep them seperated but I didn't know any better so I did it my way, just put them in the barn and pen and let find their places.

One thing I made sure of was that the temps didn't drop below 40 at the time I did put them out and that all their little bodies were kept together in one container (with breathing holes in it) overnight and they did generate a good amount of warmth. The other thing was that most of their feathers were in by that time also.