4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[CUDDERS]

Two of our three ex battery hens have now died, one as a result of a fox and the other, just old age I guess. Claudia is now on her own and we are concerned that she will be lonel, any advice.

 

We are going on holiday soon and would prefer to wait until after the holiday to introduce any new hens.

 

Will she be ok?

[chelsea]

so sorry to hear of the loss of your other 2 hens.

 

Your lone hen will be happier with hen friends. We had this dilemma last year and pondered the thought of just keeping one. After much advice given we did get some new chookie friends quite quickly for our lone girl. She adapted very well and totally changed from being mopey and pining for the hen that died, to a perky, lively chicken who was promoted to top chook of a flock of 4.

 

When do you go on holiday? It took us about 10 days for a successful introduction.

[Egluntyne]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

Sorry to hear about your two girls.

 

How soon do you go on holiday?

 

I can see that it is a tricky one.

 

On the one hand you want to wait till you get back to sort out the intros, on the other, you don't want Claudia to be lonely.

 

Smooth intros will take a couple of weeks at least.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum Cudders . Sorry to hear about your ex-batts .

 

When are you actually going away? If it's quite soon, maybe it'd be better her being lonely for a little longer rather than risking a tricky introduction which might not settle before you go (meaning you'd worry while you're away ).

[Lailapet]

Welcome!!

 

I'm sorry I can't be of any assistance whatsoever, but will be watching this thread eagerly as I have more or less the same problem myself as described in another thread before I saw this one! I too will have a lonely hen very soon, but at least I have 4 weeks till I go on holiday and hope to sort it all out before then...

 

Good luck!

 

Laila

[CUDDERS]

Hi thanks for reply, do you think or know if hens suffer on their own?

 

We would rather wait till after our holiday in two weeks time than have the trouble before or when we are away and our friend is coming into feed daily.

[chelsea]

If your hols in 2 weeks I would wait to be honest.

 

As long as someone is keeping an eye on her she will be fine and if your friend is popping in - thats a friendly face for her to see Maybe hang up some of her favourite treats in the run to keep her occupied.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'd definitely wait if you're going away that soon .

 

Here's a idea . Why not hang a few small mirrors in her run - she'll think she's got lots of friends then . (Seriously, some people have put mirrors up for hentertainment - the girls apparently love admiring themselves .)

[CUDDERS]

Thanks for you help eveyone, seems we will wait till after the hol's to introduce new girls.

 

Forgot to mentiion, Claudia does have two cat brother's (Basil and Fegus)that wander the garden with her from time to time, so maybe she wont be lonely after all. Will be hanging up some old CD's for her.

 

What about a toy hen for company in the Eglu at night.

[Egluntyne]

I agree, I'm sure she will be fine for a week or two.

[chelsea]

some people have put radios in their run before!

 

maybe you could get a solar wind up one (which your friend could wind up for you daily).

[CUDDERS]

Firstly thanks to everyone for their advice and help with our dilemma, in the end we took a trip to Thornes nursery, sure many of you know of this place just outside of Letchworth and only a 20 min drive for us, he is always a font of knowledge and sure enough came up with a possible solution.

 

We wanted to have company for Claudia so the idea was to place two news girls in the run and allow Claudia her usual wandering throughout the day, occasionally she popped down to the run for a visit and a bit of crowing, we placed corn either side of the run so occasionally they ate together,when it came to bedtime thats when the trouble started, she was very bad tempered and the new girls scared of this mourawding ex battery.

But after a few scirmishes to establish who is the boss (Claudia of course) they all settled down for the night.

 

Today they have been wandering the garden together and Claudia showing the new girls where all the best fodder is, much to the annoyance of the garden keeper (the wife).

 

Seems to have worked a treat and everything is chickity boo again.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Now I am going to attempt to put a pic on the profile, lol.

[Christian]

Great news Cudders!

 

She will be happier with some company