My EE Hen is in Mourning!

[SouthernOregonChick]

Last summer I got EE's from Cackle Hatchery. I ended up with one Roo and the rest were female. One of the girls in particular was bonded to the Roo from the day they arrived. She followed him everywhere, and they became very distressed if they were ever separated, crying for each other until they were reunited. Unfortunately since we got the Roo we've lost 4 hens (leaving only 5) and the rest were very sick and weak.
Since our flock was so reduced, we didn't have enough hens for the rooster to be satisfied. This lead to him mating with the other sick hens way too much, and too rough. I knew of course that ideally he should have 10 hens. They were already sick and he was pestering them so much that they stopped eating! It was clear that the rooster had to go. I liked him very much, but we decided to butcher him. It has been three weeks since we killed him, and one more hen died and the rest are much better now.

EXCEPT his poor little EE mate, Rosie, cries for him every night. She won't go to bed on her own, she just looks at his roost crying, searches the yard, and sits on the porch crying. I have had to carry her into the coop every night. I feel so bad! Is there anything I can do besides wait? I didn't realize she would be sad for this long!

 

[sourland]

Nothing to do but wait. Although chickens do not form 'pair bonds' they sometimes have special friends. This is true of almost all breeds of animals. As long as she is eating, she will be OK, but may continue to search/call for him for quite a while.