Solo molting chicken losing her mind (as am I)

maryn7 · Nov 10, 2021

coach723 said:
Sounds like it's going pretty well!... Glad shes's doing better! B vitamins can really help in a lot of cases.

Sorry, hadn't seen this reply in my notifications. I was just at this post to pass along your advice about the B vitamins to someone else! Thanks again! It really helped.

maryn7 · Nov 10, 2021

Further update (I'm kind of just logging this now for anyone else worried about doing a solo/solo intro):

They're doing alright together. They generally get along just fine - they sit around mostly together throughout the day in the run. Unless the Brahma is doing something cool - then the BR has to interrupt her. The BR has more energy now that her molt is calming down, so the Brahma is spending a lot of time eating two bites of food or getting two digs in a hole before the BR comes to chase her off. But I watched the Brahma do a little jump at her today when she'd been run off, so she's at least making her displeasure known.

I don't think the BR's behavior has really changed overall - she's always wanted what someone else had. It's just that her RIR sister would be like, 'Oooookkkkk. I'll just stand here till you get bored and then get back to what I was doing", whereas the Brahma makes a big song and dance of running away.

They're still sorting out roosting together at night. The Brahma really likes to nest? I think because she grew up a lot in a cage, but she'll happily just settle down on the ground during the day - not using the MANY, many roost bars and fun things we have in the run.

When we first let them together at night, we still had the divider area up in the coop - and the BR was being such a jerk about letting her sit next to her on the roost that she sort of nested way up top on the little horizontal chicken wire on top of "her" part of the coop. And when we took that all down, she was pretty upset. But they're making it work. They're currently settling in a bit far apart on the roost. But I've had success just sort of shoving them together after they're sleepy. (If anyone has tips on that, please share.)

The Brahma is a very silly, flighty girl. But the first night I let them roost in the coop, the BR was against the coop wall (her preferred sleeping area), growling. And the Brahma just walked over to her, inserted her entire, very large body under the BR to get to the wall - and sort of dumped the BR off the roost. The BR got right back up, but she was clearly like, "What the hell?" But I think it's important for her to occasionally receive the vibes she's always giving.

So, overall, hoping they learn to cuddle at night better and share food more. But no fights, and the BR is a LOT better with a friend around. I maybe should have kept them apart for longer (I only really kept them apart for 3-4 days) - perhaps that would have helped with the resource hoarding by the BR. But honestly, the BR grumbles at me if she thinks I'm trying to take something she wants (please believe I never want the things she wants :rolleyes:

) - so I think she's just a grouch. Your mileage may vary if you have a sweeter natured bird. (she has been like this since a day old.....)

Thank you to everyone who said we should go ahead and do this. It seems to have really worked out (fingers crossed) - and I don't have to sit in a run all day with a sadness chicken anymore, and that's truly a gift.