louruss Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 One of our hens recently died and left us with just one. The pair we had were such cute close friends but now our lone hen is lonely so we are going to get three new rescue hens from a chicken rescue charity. Does anyone have any good advice on how best to introduce the new hens? I've been reading up on it but nothing I've found applies to having one existing hen. We have an Eglu cube Mk2 wit run and a large netted area of the garden to free range in every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 There are quite a lot of posts on here about introducing a lone hen to new hens. Have never done this myself though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 Have a look at this one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 My mum introduced 4 ex-batt hens to a lone remaining hybrid. The hybrid had always been the dominant hen and she remained so. She literally just shoved all the newbies into the house one night and left them all to get on with it. That went fine, but she may have just got lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 I have added a few pullets to a lone hen in the past, generally as she is already established she will be top of the pecking order and as there are three newbies she shouldn't pick on one especially. Make sure there are a couple of feed and water stations and they should be fine Keep us updated with photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 As said the old hen will take charge immediately. My only concern is if the oldie hasn't been immunised because the newcomers will be stressed and will 'shed' their viruses, potentially infecting the original. If your lone hen is also a hybrid chances are she will be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louruss Posted December 3, 2018 Author Share Posted December 3, 2018 Thanks for all your comments. I think i'm going to go down the route of putting them in at night as there seems to be some success with this. Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
