Single Chicken

[cartierchick]

I am new to keeping chickens and was wondering if keeping a single hen is going to be cruel to that chicken? Do they need to be in multiples for proper chicken happiness? I have one young bantam pullet and she's very friendly, helps me out in the garden, comes to me when I'm walking up... but I've been wondering if she's lonely for other chicken attention. She's only been the single hen for a few days. I am thinking that I need to get her a friend... but is it possible to have just one chicken?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[warmfuzzies]

I really dont think one chicken would be happy. They are very social animals, and they seem to be happier the more of them there are. They will talk to each other all day long, share food, and they have special calls to tell each other when they find a tasty treat. I have even heard that chicks raised alone sometimes die.

Just my two cents!

Besides, who would want to stop at one???

 

[JenEric Farms]

My mom had one pet hen for years. That hen LOVED my mom and was an extremely happy girl.

 

[cartierchick]

I know this is an old post, but as an update, I did keep just this one hen, a mille fleur for a year by her self. I was pregnant and my husband was out of town for most of it during the winter and I had her stay with me and my dogs inside. She rocked. She put the cat in her place and even had control over the three dogs. I even made a chicken diaper for her but she outgrew it...just barely. So, she stayed in the bathroom during the day while I was teaching but usually I would take her to school with me. She'd wander around the classroom and cuddle with the students who picked her up. She was well known in my school. We got two other hens and a duck that spring and she eventually bonded with them. I did loose her to a red tailed hawk three weeks ago Saturday when she was two feet from my house. I ran out and stopped the hawk but the deed had been done. I can't tell you the sadness I felt. It still pains me. That hawk could have taken the other two hens and left my 'Baby Chicken'! (that was her name) I've read that mille fleurs are especially friendly and maybe that was why she was so awesome but she sold my husband on chickens and that is worth more than I can thank her for. I'm searching for other mille fleur hens, but don't see many options out there. Everything is straight run. I live in town and I can't have a rooster so it makes raising straight runs impossible as I have no idea what to do with the roosters.

So after having one great little bantam hen.... I can honestly say... One chicken is better than no chickens!

 

[Desert Rooster]

Sorry for your loss, it seems that Predators always target that one favorite chicken of ours,

. and welcome back by the way

 

[shagbarksilkies]

Quote:
I agree I do not believe one hen by herself would be happy

 

[cartierchick]

Why is that? Cruel fate? I figured she was slower than the standard sized hens and the duck so she got the 'hook'. I'm just relieved that it was something as crazy as a giant hawk in town than a dog or coon or fox getting her. That is the only thing that makes it feel better. I'm in the process of building a top covered coop to remedy this issue. Never would I have thought a hawk would try that close to a house before.

 

[cartierchick]

I didn't plan on having just one, it just worked out that way. But we (the dogs and cat & people) became her social life. She talked to us, laid more eggs than I could count and even after getting the other hens, she always came to us when we'd call her. She'd jump in our arms or on our shoulders. I really think she was a happy little girl when she was the lone chicken. It wasn't like she was all by herself. I don't even think she realized she was any different than the other pets to be honest. I do think she was atypical as the other hens we have are not that friendly. And I would NEVER keep the other hens loose in the house like I did Baby Chicken. She just had that... something. And I got her at 9-10 weeks old from the school AG project. I would agree many chickens are better. She was just one of those random 'one in a million' chickens. The kind that get you hooked...

 

[mkeawsh]

A couple years ago, had one chick in the house and it was constantly peeping and we would try and hold it as much as we could but within a four or five days it died. It had quit eating and just basically died of loneliness. I think you need a lot of time of hands-on, if you have one.

I had a lonely hatch last year and gave that chick mirrors and a stuffed animal and he did live but he never did acclimate into the rest of the flock - was scared of all of them and even though he was so tame and friendly with me, he got to a point just in the past month that he would seek me out where ever I was just to attack me and was relentless. I had to cull him because of the grand kids coming over and could not trust him around them. He always seemed a little goofy. I don't advise getting just one. They are very very social animals.

 

[sheaviance1]

I'm sorry for your loss.