The lone survivor hen

[AlliebPA]

Hi I am new to the group we had a mature flock of 26 chickens that for the past year have not been laying, they were in a safe enclosure and we had never had an issue, one early morning something (we think coyotes) dug under the one weak spot in the coop. All of the flock was wiped out the only sign was feathers everywhere and one lone survivor chicken that was untouched and on the outside of the coop running around like crazy. That was almost two months ago. Since then

1) Chicken (her name now) lays eggs in her nesting box
2) Will not roost in her coop at night and has picked our jeep as her new sleeping area
3) Every night we carry her to her coop and she roosts outside (Im sure so she can keep watch) she never goes into the large hen house
4) In the morning she paces at the gate until we let her out and then spends all day in our front yard

Questions
1) should we add additional hens/rooster to her life, I don't want to add additional stress to her life
2) how do we stop her from rootsting on the cars and make her feel safe in her coop
3) If adding chickens is a suggestion, where can I ind young hens not chicks

thanks in advance

 

[azygous]

If you've repaired the weak spot in the coop where the coyote came in, you can close her up in the coop for a few days to reestablish the habit of roosting and laying there.

She would have more well being if she had a flock. But adding adult chickens will not result in her making new friends. It would be a sort of negotiated peace after the initial dust up when greeting the newcomers.

Adding chicks would be best because she wouldn't feel as competitive with them, but it would still require careful integration.

Examine your reasons for wanting to add more chickens. Is it just because you think she needs company? Or do you wish to have more chickens because you want more chickens? The second reason is the better of the two. The hen has already adjusted to not having any flock mates. She's likely not as unhappy as you believe.

 

[AlliebPA]

If you've repaired the weak spot in the coop where the coyote came in, you can close her up in the coop for a few days to reestablish the habit of roosting and laying there.

She would have more well being if she had a flock. But adding adult chickens will not result in her making new friends. It would be a sort of negotiated peace after the initial dust up when greeting the newcomers.

Adding chicks would be best because she wouldn't feel as competitive with them, but it would still require careful integration.

Examine your reasons for wanting to add more chickens. Is it just because you think she needs company? Or do you wish to have more chickens because you want more chickens? The second reason is the better of the two. The hen has already adjusted to not having any flock mates. She's likely not as unhappy as you believe.

Thank you for this feedback I appreciate it. We renovated the entire coop and made some improvemnts including the weak spot. We are deffinetly getting additioanl chickens as I love having them. I thought having older chickens might be easier for her to establish a new flock but it sounds like chicks might be less stress on her. THank you again for your advice. Have a great weekend.