Only one chicken left

[lrballard]

Hi all,

All my chickens have died except for one. How lonely is she? Is it cruel to have only one? I'm not ready to get more at this time and she's about 5 years old. I don't think it would be nice to rehome her at this point.
She is a free-range girl and hangs out with us in the yard part of the day.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[Sablehaven]

I agree that you shouldn't rehome her at 5 years, it just seems like she wouldn't like her life changing so much as an old lady, she has her family.

Spend as much time with her as you can, bring her inside sometimes if she'd enjoy that. She'll be okay until you can get her new friends : )

 

[JacinLarkwell]

5 isn't really that old... at least not to my birds. I have several laying regularly at 6 or 7

 

[lrballard]

5 isn't really that old... at least not to my birds. I have several laying regularly at 6 or 7

wow 7! good job!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

wow 7! good job!

Thanks,but I don't have any role besides not culling them at 3 like most do

 

[ChocolateMouse]

That hen could live to be 8-11 years old. That's a long time to be alone. Can you get her an older hen friend? Maybe a retired egg layer?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You can also offer her to someone, and just let them know she's older and not a super layer. Some people don't need tons of eggs

 

[kelzey]

i’m not too good with this stuff but i honestly think you should try getting her a friend. one that’s around her age maybe, you don’t want her to be lonely

 

[rosemarythyme]

IMO you could go either way - that's the problem when you get down to 1, with no plans to get more. She probably would like to have more chicken friends but if you can consistently spend quality time with her each day, I don't see why that wouldn't work.