Lonely Chicken?

[MintyEgger]

Recently, one of my two remaining chickens has unfortunately died, leaving my four year old Easter Egger as a lone hen. She seems to be getting lonely, and I've been debating whether to get her friends around her age, or give her some pullets to raise. She has never been a mother before, since we don't have a rooster. I've been trying to decide what's better for her, since I don't want a social animal to be lonely. It's nearly summer, so it won't be cold. What should I do? Get adult hens, or let her be a mom for once?

 

[azygous]

Neither is practical. She would likely react with mistrust of any adult chickens. Being a mom would entail broody hormones, and that is a fickle business.

More practical would be to get some day-old chicks from a feed store and brood them in direct proximity to your surviving hen. Sometimes, and currently I have one, a mature hen will take an interest in the chicks and pseudo broody hormones can develop after a couple weeks of exposure to them. These hormones cause a hen to sound like a broody and to be protective of the chicks and to care for them.

I've had a couple of them and made this thread about them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/we-know-broody-hens-how-about-a-nanny-hen.1407935/