Sadly only 1 Chicken

4Chickens

I should no longer be known as 4Chickens, I only have one left now. And she cuts a rather lonely figure.
I do have 2 Aylesbury/Muscovy female ducks, one has bumble foot and the other has a propensity to fly over the next door neighbours garden, despite having clipped her wing.
I don't know if I should be considering rehoming the chicken and ducks so that they can be part of a proper flock. I tried broaching the subject with my husband but he was dead against it, which is ironic because he hasn't fed, watered or cleaned out the birds for months.

What do you think I should do? Or am I just feeling sad because of my lonely chicken?

krlyr

I've taken on a few pet rats that have been the last of their group, to integrate with my own so that they had company, if the owner wasn't in the position to get more themselves. I didn't think badly of their owners at all - rather the opposite, to give up a pet you clearly love to ensure its social requirements are met is quite selfless.
I think company is quite an important need to a social animal. If your hubby is that fussed about keeping them, tell him he needs to do the responsible thing and adopt some more - and do the feeding and cleaning himself as its his choice!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Why do you not want to get any more?


[not having a go, it's a genuine question]

jaqui59

What breed of chicken is she, and how old is she? ...

Integrating chickens is not an easy thing to do, and can have disastrous outcomes if not done correctly. You would have to find someone who is truly dedicated to the task to make sure she stays unharmed by the others.

If she in her twilight years, and you feel the ducks offer her some sort of company, it might well be kinder to keep her until she naturally passes.

rising_from_the_ashes

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Why do you not want to get any more?

[not having a go, it's a genuine question]

That's what I was going to ask!

4Chickens

I will try to answer as fully as possible.
We originally had 4 chickens, all different breeds. The one that is left is called Joy and she is an Amber Star. We got all four chickens from the same place at the same age. We got them in October 2009 (they would have been point of lay) and the first one died in October last year ( I think through stress, she went on holiday, came back and a ferret got in our garden and she just couldn't cope, she was a bit precious IYKWIM). I don't think they were/are in their twilight years at all and that is why I am reluctant to get more chickens, have problems integrating them as a flock and then having them pop their clogs bi-annually.
The chicken kind of does and doesn't get along with the ducks. If there is competition over food then it is quite a disturbing sight to see a chickens head in the beak of a large duck and getting the seven bells kicked out of it with some quite spectacularly large webbed feet.
I have a feeling that Joy won't survive the winter because she has no other chickens to roost with.
Just how long is a Muscovy/Aylsbury ducks lifespan?
I still don't know what to do for the best. Hubby is not going to support re-homing, so I either do it on the sly and make out a fox had them (believe me, by the time I catch the ducks our back garden will look like a fox had them) or wait for them to depart this mortal coil naturally.

lostinrates

I integrate chickens regularly and only once had a problem (my flock varies in size from at lowest about eight and ...a lot biggerbut I am defra reg so I can go over fifty). The problem was my fault, I knew at the time I was trying to cut a corner and solve a problem the wrong way and was proven right very quickly, I had stayed to monitor the situation so could re think.


I also mix poultry types, my sickens live with ducks and at times peacocks. But mine free range over a large area, and I imagine penning together would bring problems of intolerance and bullying from my geese.

I think Muscovies live about eight years (I don't keep them)