We lost poor Napoleon the other night - he was hunched up and not his usual cheery self on Monday and when we checked him over there wasn't anything obviously wrong with him. I was going to take him to the vet if he was no better on Tuesday but he died overnight in the coop in his sleep. The girls are rather subdued - particularly Josephine who was his favourite hen (although she can be a right madam). We are also rather sad to lose him as he was a gentle little chap and rather handsome with a fine ruffle round his neck (a bit like Henry the Eighth!). Also I had thought of letting one of the broody girls hatch a couple of eggs this summer as I think he would have fathered some rather nice chicks. Even our neighbours seem sad that he has gone - despite the crowing rather early in the morning!
We thought we would let the girls settle down as Josephine seems to get on with the ugly sisters and they all seem fine health wise. So far they seem content to peck around together and she is not being left out but the ugly sisters are very prone to being broody and tend to keep each other company in the coop when one or other is refusing to budge.
However I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts about if we do end up getting some new hens, what a good number would be? Before when I have had a hen being left out of the group, getting another pair of hens hasn't helped as they have stuck together as the new girls in the coop. I wondered if getting three hens might even up the numbers or make the isolating/bullying worse? The only thing that seemed to restore order was getting a cockerel who the lone hen could then follow round and he made sure that the pecking order didn't get out of hand.
Just interested to see what you think. It's a bit of a dilemma...
