I am dithering, and I need outside help and perspective. →[More:]

I can't decide, can't decide, can't decide. When my folks were in town this summer, my mom asked me if I'd ever participate in The Great Chicken Experiment again. I had to think about it, but decided that in my current place, I probably wouldn't. I'd wait until I had more room and could keep them confined, instead of turning over my backyard to a bunch of poop machines. Lovable poop machines, to be sure, but machines de poop nonetheless.

But I think my resolve has dissolved over the past week. Mostly, I feel really bad for poor Chickpea. I mean, maybe she's thrilled at not having to fight over the tasty tidbits anymore. She doesn't get chased away from the treats. She can eat whatever she wants. All those are good things.

But she's in the yard all alone. She doesn't have anyone to talk to. And yes, they did talk to each other. Sure, it was probably a non-language, but they at least shared those sounds with one another. And there's the whole safety-in-numbers thing, too. Chickens are flock animals. They're flock animals because they're prey animals. I can't help but think that a solitary chicken must have quite a bit of anxiety, knowing that she's the only target for marauders. Especially at night, when the raccoons are roaming about.

So I think I'm going to get her a friend. Not sure *I* want another chicken friend, but I'm trying to do the kind thing here. (While another option is "re-homing" her, that doesn't seem very kind at all to me. Dropping her into an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar flock -- no, I couldn't do that. She's too docile, and she'd fall to the bottom of the pecking order immediately.)

My dilemma now is do I get her one friend, or two? *She'd* be fine with one, I'm sure. But she's getting old, for a chicken, and I don't know how much longer she'd be around. If I got one, and if she went to the big roosting place in the sky, then I'd be left in the same situation I'm in now -- with a lonely chicken.

So I was thinking that if I got two, and Chickpea left us, then I'd at least have the option of finding a good home for a bonded pair, if I chose to get out of the chicken business. At least they'd have each other, you know?

So that's my thinking. I can get a couple this weekend from a local foundation whose mission I really like. I know they've been well cared for, and I know they're not being raised in cramped conditions for meat. (Some of the SF Craigslist ads gave me that impression. I was tempted to liberate them all, but I also didn't want to give those people my money. It's hard being a bleeding heart, I tell you.)

Any advice, encouragement, discouragement, or revelations of things I might be missing?