Should she have a female coop mate?

[feathermummzy]

Hi there everyone
We are getting our first feather baby in a few weeks " Buff Orpington" and was wondering if I could please get peoples opinion on if she will be happier with a coop mate? There are a lot of conflicting articles about it, and at the end of the day we just want her to be as happy as possible, so any input would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks
Jess

 

[bobbi-j]

Chickens are flock animals, so yes. she would be happier with company. Ideally, you could get her two more flock mates and get them all at the same time. The nice thing about three of them is, if something happens to one, you won't end up with a lone chicken.

 

[Teila]

Hi there feathermummzy, welcome to BYC!

When I started on my chicken adventure I only had two girls; sadly, one passed away and the one girl on her own was desperate for company. I had to dash out and buy her a friend.

I agree with bobbi-j in that I would now never have less than 3. Meaning that if I did lose one, there would still be two for company and I would have time to find a replacement.

I have heard of people having one chicken as a family pet and some do OK but maybe these were raised as a single chick.

I do think that a chicken that was used to company finding herself alone would be very upset.

 

[keesmom]

Chickens are not happy alone, so yes you need to get other flock mates for her. At a minimum 2 more.

 

[appps]

As mentioned they live in flocks so are much much happier with more than one. Three is a good number because if something should happen to one (from death to it turns out to be a rooster you can't keep) then you don't have the problem of trying to get an older bird to like a new friend you find it. While they can all get on if all new adding later is never as easy.