Need advice.

[Deanmamarama]

Ok.. I need advice. Two of my three "hens" were discovered to be Roos. I can't keep them per my city regulations. Once I rehome the boys, my lone girl is gonna be lonely. Now.. I know introducing new hens into the brood is typically kinda difficult, but if she's alone, do you think I could add a single same age hen without bloodshed? Or could I safely add two hens without them hurting my original gal? What should I do? I need expert advice, so I know I'm in the right place.

 

[so lucky]

I agree: one chicken will be lonely by herself, most likely. You don't say how old your chicken is, but if you just recently discovered that the others were males, they are probably not over 6 months old or so. If I were in your position, I would look for 2 or 3 younger girls, just a tad younger or smaller. Your girl being the oldest and the first inhabitant, she would have an advantage over one younger bird. But if you put 2 or 3 in with her, maybe the odds will be such that they could get along. Still, I would take my time with the introduction, after quarentine, and allow the girls to see each other, but still be separated for a while. Also, if you free range, that would be a good time to let them mingle for the first few times, then finally introduce the new girls into the pen at night; just put them on the roost after dark. Make sure your pen has a place for the girls to get away from each other, and provide two feeders and waterers for a while.

 

[annep]

I would be really careful..We had a lone survivor of a fox attack, got some younger pullets who weren't laying yet..She attacked and bit off their toes..We have two layers right now we call stumpy..it was not pretty..we ended up getting rid of her because no matter what we did, she'd attack the younger girls..

 

[LCEchickens]

When we decided to get into chickens last spring, we bought a coop from someone off craigslist that came with a single hen. I wasn't given any information on her except that she did live with a couple other hens at some point. We ended up raising 4 BR chicks to someday join her. When the chicks were about 3 weeks old, we let them into the coop/run while the hen would free range. They had visual access to each other, but that was it. After a few more weeks, the chicks stayed out in the coop but still separated from the hen. The hen never showed any aggression towards the chicks and would sit next to the mesh that separated them. When the chicks were about 9 weeks old we put them all together. The chicks had hiding spots to escape to if needed. The hen chased them and gave them few pecks here and there, but nothing too serious. We continued to separate them at night for awhile. Within a week they were together all the time. The older hen is still the boss and won't roost with the younger ones, but I think she is much happier with friends!

 

[florida lee]

I have a hen that I had to separate from the others. She lives by herself and seem perfectly happy, gives me nice large eggs daily. Comes when I call her. But she will not tolerate other chickens in her coop. Tried all the tricks to inter grate her and other hens nothing worked. I do not believe she is unhappy being alone.