What would you do?

[RichmondHens]

Upate: The cock has been culled and I've distributed his hens around some of the other cocks. His LS wife has gone to another LS cock and I will hatch a small batch of her eggs early next year to see what comes from those offspring.

[petal]

probably what I would do too. coq au vin?

[BUFFS]

when i had to rehome my birds,i put it on the local recycle page and was able to weigh up the new keepers,they were great but being local you are able to go and look over their setup and see whether they are up to it,i would rehome her now and have another look at her dad with a different hen....they are addictive,mine have been gone now for about 3 months,yet still expect to see their daft antics when i go out the back...

[Hilary B]

I know this is now an old thread, but my first thought was that she was laying very early for a pure breed, and maybe that was all that was 'wrong' with her, and if the sister started laying at a more normal time, and gave more normal results, that would be good enough.
That wouldn't prove the problem wasn't genetic, the early start might be an inheritted fault in itself.

[Munch]

I have just picked this thread up thanks to Hilary bumping it!

I have a light sussex hen that started laying at 19 weeks and is now about 10 months olds and is still laying the same little sized eggs! But what I do know is that they (the 5 other eggs that hatched with her) had floppy combs so possibly not pure bred. Would that make a difference.

Just found it funny that we have the same eggy issue with the same breed that are of a similar age!

[kathyd]

My question is how you would consider re-homing just a single hen when all the advice I've ever been given from everyone is never to introduce a single hen to a group!

[Hilary B]

RichmondHens has lots of chooks. I suspect she could supply a friend to go with the 'needs to be a pet' one.

[kathyd]

RichmondHens has lots of chooks. I suspect she could supply a friend to go with the 'needs to be a pet' one.

Oh, OK then - just checking

[RichmondHens]

Just to let you know I still have the hen in question. The eggs have got marginally bigger. I doubt I shall get rid of her. I like to have a few "spare" hens around the place, they can have all sorts of uses - "expendable" companions to sick birds, an extra hen to add to a breeding pair or trio to stop the more important hens getting worn out, that sort of thing. She won't be bred from, but she will have her uses.

Although it's advised not to add a single hen to an existing group, it can still be done, it just means that (mostly) the chook in question has a harder time of it. For inexperienced keepers watching the "action" can be upsetting, but things always shake down in the end. There are times when I have to put single hens into an existing group, introducing new season pullets for example, but things always sort themselves out. The key factor is giving the flock enough space (something I bang on about time and time again) because as long as they have enough places to escape to and access to some food they will be fine. Problems occur when the hen in question is maybe below par healthwise to start with or there is too much of a size discrepancy.