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

[Black RockStar]

Sadly, our , Miss Marple, died on Friday. She had problems with a respitory problem about a month ago. We took her to an agricultural vet and she was give some antibiotics. She made a full recovery but took a sudden turn for the worse on Thursday and we found her dead in the nesting box Friday morning She was nearly 4.

 

The dilemma we have now is that we now have Bodie left on her own. She seems perfectly happy but is it wrong not to get her some companions? We want more chickens but my wife wants 6 battery hens next and I'm aware there's problems mixing them with regular birds, so she wants to wait until we can start a clean sheet.

[WitchHazel]

Sorry to hear about Miss Marple.

[hilda-and-evadne]

Sadly, our , Miss Marple, died on Friday. ...

The dilemma we have now is that we now have Bodie left on her own. She seems perfectly happy but is it wrong not to get her some companions? We want more chickens but my wife wants 6 battery hens next and I'm aware there's problems mixing them with regular birds, so she wants to wait until we can start a clean sheet.

 

Sorry to hear that - Miss Marple seems to have had a long and happy life, though.

 

From what I've read, it is best not to leave a chicken on her own. If your wife wants to start with 6 ex-bats but you have to wait until Bodie is no longer around, that's a bit hard on Bodie. Had you thought of rehoming Bodie?

[Black RockStar]

Sadly, our , Miss Marple, died on Friday. ...

The dilemma we have now is that we now have Bodie left on her own. She seems perfectly happy but is it wrong not to get her some companions? We want more chickens but my wife wants 6 battery hens next and I'm aware there's problems mixing them with regular birds, so she wants to wait until we can start a clean sheet.

 

Sorry to hear that - Miss Marple seems to have had a long and happy life, though.

 

From what I've read, it is best not to leave a chicken on her own. If your wife wants to start with 6 ex-bats but you have to wait until Bodie is no longer around, that's a bit hard on Bodie. Had you thought of rehoming Bodie?

 

 

I don't think we could ever consider rehoming Bodie, shes been with us for nearly four years and we just couldn't do it. It's a difficult one.

[Budgies]

Sorry to hear you lost Miss Marple.

 

Some people have successfully integrated just one bird with one existing bird.

 

It requires lots of time and patience and needs to be well thought out. However, if you did this initially, maybe you could then get 5 ex-batts or similar, so as not to scupper your plans too much.

 

From personal experience a hen left alone will start to pine - when one of my girls had to have an operation the existing one broke my heart with not eating, not wanting to peck around the garden, not wanting to leave her house.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[Black RockStar]

Sorry to hear you lost Miss Marple.

 

Some people have successfully integrated just one bird with one existing bird.

 

It requires lots of time and patience and needs to be well thought out. However, if you did this initially, maybe you could then get 5 ex-batts or similar, so as not to scupper your plans too much.

 

From personal experience a hen left alone will start to pine - when one of my girls had to have an operation the existing one broke my heart with not eating, not wanting to peck around the garden, not wanting to leave her house.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

Thanks for the advice. I must admit Bodie still seems to come rushing down the ladder in the morning, has a very healthy appetite and spends all day pecking and s"Ooops, word censored!"ping around the garden. Shes still an egg-a-day girl too. We will keep a close eye on her though!

[Lydia]

Hello

 

First of all sorry to hear that Miss Marple passed away. It's always sad when they go but I'm sure she had a wonderful life.

 

I think you should consider getting more hens to keep Brodie company. I successful integrated 2 ex-batts with an existing Omlet girlie the first time I took on ex-batts with very little problems. Initially they had to be kept separate of course and introduced gradually but you'd have to do this for any introduction ex-batt or otherwise. With hindsight I would have taken 3 ex-batts so I think 4 would be OK.

 

You'll need another eglu or coop or somewhere to keep the newbies initially but there are those who'll hire them out/lend them so it's not too difficult.

 

I've also recently integrated 1 hen to 7 existing ones - it can be done but requires more time and patience than integrating a new group and I definitely prefer to do groups. Plus, if you only get 1 hen and 1 of them then dies you are back to square one.

 

I am also happy to say that both original ex-batts and the original Omlet girlie are still with us and we have successfullyl added more ex-batts along the way.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.