[balletchickens]

Hello all,

Today we unfortunately lost one of our girls  [Foghorn]  & my question is could the other two [Merida & Soprano] get depressed as a result of this?

Foghorn was a bit of a mother to them- was always the one to warn them of something or signal that we were giving them treats.   

They were very confused about where she was when they went to bed & the last thing I want is for then to get stressed about where she is. Is there anything we could do to help?

Thank you

[GrannieAnnie]

They'll be fine after a day or two.  I have heard of chickens pining, but never known it in all my years of keeping chooks.  We've lost 2 of our old girls over the past few weeks.  The others just go on as normal.  The thing is, they will need to sort out who the next mother hen will be!

[Casey76]

I must admit I never really noticed this in my flock (which ranged from 6 to 40 depending on the time of year.  However I did tend to have a rather rapid turn over, so maybe my flock wasn't really settled into a proper hirearchy?

[8doubles]

When i have had to cull a hen because of ill health the others do not even seem to notice .
 
I suppose it makes sense , in the wild birds flock together in the hope that someone else gets eaten !

Very little sympathy in the hen world !

[Snoop]

Actually, we've had one hen that realised another wasn't well and definitely noticed her absence immediately afterwards. The poorly hen was removed shortly before bed time but next morning none of them acted distressed or seemed to notice. You might get the odd one that will realise she's not there, but they very quickly get back to their normal behaviour. Especially if there are a few treats to go around and provide some distraction. I shouldn't worry about it.

[sneezer]

sorry to hear about your hen foghorn, we recently lost one of ours (Rosa) and the others called and looked for her, only for a few days though, they will soon be getting on with important things like scratching your garden to pieces Strangely though the girl we lost always had the best sunbathing spot and after she died Rhoda tried to lay there and the other two pecked her til she moved?

[cheeps]

I'm pleased to say I agree with the others.  When one of my old girls, Boo, died a few weeks ago only 3 of the remaining 7 hens noticed.  One had been Boo's best friend and life long companion and I was worried for her but she is ok, in fact she is now aloud to roost alongside the 2 top hens now!  I think they took pity on her.   The second one that noticed her absence was the top hen.  She kept looking in the hen houses and around the garden, peering in through the kitchen door even, trying to find her but after about 3 days she didn't bother anymore.  The third was one of the young hens who caused a bit of a stir trying to raise her standing in the pecking order, and succeeded for a few days too, but soon got knocked down to her original position. lol. They'll be fine.  At least they have each other.

[tosca100]

We lost Lacey last week and the only one who noticed was sister and partner in crime, Cagney, who looked for her for a day, but I wouldn't call it pining.

[balletchickens]

Thanks for all the advice guys!! 

They seem to have settled down now- the dog seems to be more bothered that one of his girls has gone!!


Xx