We only have 2 chickens left :(

[LoveOrpingtons]

Hello all,
For the past three years, we have been caregivers to 3 Buff Orpingtons that we raised from 4 weeks old. Last month, our beautiful Scarlet died suddenly. We were so sad and our 12-year old son was devastated. It was an experience that makes me wonder if I want to go through that again, knowing that these girls are our pets, not just a source for eggs.
Our remaining 2 girls seem to be managing just fine together; in fact Ginger is picking on Matilda less than she used to when there were 3 chickens. I know that even 3 chickens is considered a very low number and 4 is what is required to be called a "flock", or so I've been told.
Does anyone else have just a couple of chickens and if so, do they seem to be faring okay? Our chickens are in a nice large, well insulated coop and yard, plus they free-range from October through March so we definitely have the space for more though the idea of integrating new chickens is another matter to consider.
Sorry if this is a rambling post and maybe I just needed to come here for comfort from those who can understand how much we can love "just a chicken". But if you can give some insight into whether it would be best for our remaining chickens to have more company, not to mention that I'd love to have more eggs to enjoy, I'm all ears.
Thanks and have a wonderful day.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

Why did Scarlet die "suddenly" that is something you should find out. It could have been a singular illness but it is always better to know the cause so you can protect the others if need be.

I have known a few folks that only had two hens but most want four so they have enough eggs for their needs.

Your hens can lay an egg a day but most will go every other day going on my own experiences from childhood to now.

In our household we have two 2 legs and 5 4 legs (2 dogs and 3 hogs) the hogs do not particularly like eggs, yes that surprised us too. We have found that 4 hens supply our weekly egg needs (two meals with eggs or one meal and baking per week) less than 4 hens laying and we would be short in supply occasionally.

Chickens like company, the more the better, especially if you don't keep a rooster as protector. A hen will usually take on the role the rooster should have (if you don't have one for what ever reason) but that can also keep her from laying as she normally would so in that case, it would be better to have more hens available for egg duty every day.

In the end, it is always up to the keeper to make the hard decisions. So, see how the egg production is and how it stacks up to your weekly needs, then you can make a good decision from there.

I will say this just to give you our situation as an example;

My wife says 4 hens would work for us for a while, but when we add in possible predation it would be to our advantage to have 24-26 birds, this includes one rooster for hawk protection. That many birds would keep us in eggs and provide a few dozen for sale, every week. We live in the woods, we do have a mated Red Tailed Hawk family nesting close to the coop, we also have eagles, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and feral dog packs as main predators, of these only the hawks, eagles and dog packs would be a problem since we put the chooks into the coop at dusk or a little before. The hawk family is my spirit animal, they are sacred to me, as are the eagles, so if they should take a chicken every now and then, I have only fed my spirit animal. I can live with the occasional loss for those reasons. Should the feral dogs become a problem, they would then be terminated. I do not believe in killing anything that does not harm our way of life, or is just trying to feed its self and or family. feral dogs are unwanted pets dumped by irresponsible owners, in effect they are giving us what they do not want to take care of and so these critters could become a problem for all our neighbors as well as us. We do not live close to any of our neighbors and everyone has the same rule about the feral "drop off animals", including the Sheriff's department.

My wife's spirit animal is the wolf, Arkansas has no wolf population. If we were lucky enough to have a population of wolves, we would honor them as we do the hawks and eagles.

 

[Litchfieldgirls]

So sorry to hear of your loss, it's always hard when they go, especially if it was out of the blue. Chickens are social girls, I think it would be hard if you ended up with only one chicken, not wishing anything on your 2 girls, plus your son might benefit from having new chicks to look forward too......
But only you can make that decision, it's hard when you become a "farmer" as a vet once told me.

 

[Mrs. K]

I know your son was devastated, but to my mind, death is a fact of life, and it is a bit better to have some experience with it.

Some new chicks might also help illustrate the circle of life. If so, getting a four new chicks might be a good idea. Because the reality is, that as chickens get closer to 3 years of age or past, there is a very real possibility that the others will be coming to the end of their lives too. There are many posters on here, that do have much older birds, but often times that is more of an exception. A three year old hen is a pretty old hen.

Getting new chicks, or even planning new chicks often cheers me up.

Mrs K

 

[LoveOrpingtons]

Thank you all for your great perspectives and advice. And Mrs. K, you are so right about learning about the circle of life lesson. My husband and I agreed that this was, though hard, a good life lesson for our son.
Okay, I think getting some new babies to integrate into the "family" is where we'll be going with this. I'll let you know what next steps we plan to take.
Thanks again!