Good morning! I am a new chicken owner by default! My son and his wife started raising chickens over a year ago and they started out with three of them. About a month and a half ago, one of the original three got stuck and we believe she had a heart attack.
The kids decided to go and get three more chickens that were about a year old. They were keeping them separated but in the same coop and were planning to slowly introduce them. Two weeks ago their house caught on fire and it started by the coop area. They lost all but two of their chickens. Thankfully everybody else was OK. One of the chickens that survived was part of the original group and the other one was part of the new group. My neighbors had five chickens and offered to take one of the two remaining chickens. I told my son that I would keep Lucy, she was one of the originals and we had named her after my mother.
I have a side yard that is shaded by trees and is mainly dirt. That is where I have my bird and squirrel feeders also because I also own four dogs, three of them being lab mixes. I bought a coop at a local garden store and set up house for Lucy. Since then, my dogs have all adjusted to her so when I am home, she can walk around the back yard. I do worry that she is all by herself and she follows me all over the place when I am outside. I don't mind this but I worry about her being lonely. Also, I can't seem to get her to go up to her brooding boxes in her coop. She has been laying her eggs in the dirt behind the air conditioner. When I put her in the box and close the lid, she REALLY starts squawking and comes down the ladder. I have never seen her go up the ladder. I do have food on each of the steps and I put a ping pong ball in the brooding box hoping she would lay her eggs there but so far nothing.
So I got on the internet with hopes of finding some help and ideas about how to make sure she enjoys her stay with me. It looks like I will probably have her for about a year so any and all help is appreciated!
The kids decided to go and get three more chickens that were about a year old. They were keeping them separated but in the same coop and were planning to slowly introduce them. Two weeks ago their house caught on fire and it started by the coop area. They lost all but two of their chickens. Thankfully everybody else was OK. One of the chickens that survived was part of the original group and the other one was part of the new group. My neighbors had five chickens and offered to take one of the two remaining chickens. I told my son that I would keep Lucy, she was one of the originals and we had named her after my mother.
I have a side yard that is shaded by trees and is mainly dirt. That is where I have my bird and squirrel feeders also because I also own four dogs, three of them being lab mixes. I bought a coop at a local garden store and set up house for Lucy. Since then, my dogs have all adjusted to her so when I am home, she can walk around the back yard. I do worry that she is all by herself and she follows me all over the place when I am outside. I don't mind this but I worry about her being lonely. Also, I can't seem to get her to go up to her brooding boxes in her coop. She has been laying her eggs in the dirt behind the air conditioner. When I put her in the box and close the lid, she REALLY starts squawking and comes down the ladder. I have never seen her go up the ladder. I do have food on each of the steps and I put a ping pong ball in the brooding box hoping she would lay her eggs there but so far nothing.
So I got on the internet with hopes of finding some help and ideas about how to make sure she enjoys her stay with me. It looks like I will probably have her for about a year so any and all help is appreciated!
and good luck with your poultry adventure! 
She's definitely had a rough start. Have you considered adding another hen to your flock? She really should have a buddy.
