Hanging out in the coop.

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BBQJOE

BBQJOE

Songster
Sep 25, 2015
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It's really not that cold yet, and I suppose it doesn't much matter, but my ladies have been spending most of their days lately just hanging out in the coop.
I tried telling them it's nice, and to go outside to play, but chickens just don't listen.
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I'm actually surprised mine didn't spend any extra time in the coop over the last few days- really high winds and today it only got up to the mid-30s. Well, I guess it's good, since we have many months of snow and extreme cold to go...
 
I'm having the opposite issue and my ladies will not stay under cover while its pouring, windy and just generally stormy. They are soaked. Poor ladies.
 
BBQJOE said:
It's really not that cold yet, and I suppose it doesn't much matter, but my ladies have been spending most of their days lately just hanging out in the coop.
I tried telling them it's nice, and to go outside to play, but chickens just don't listen.
big_smile.png
Click to expand...

Joe, there's a slim chance one of those hens is feeling under the weather and the others are hanging out with her.

Chickens sometimes act with a "hive mind", following the cue from a lead hen. I'm not saying this is what's happening in your flock right now, but on the chance one of them is ailing, you might want to check them over.

The thing to look for is one hen persistently staying in one spot or moving only occasionally as she holds her tail down. You will invariably find her facing the wall or in a corner.

There's also a chance that a predator scared them and that's why they're sticking around inside where they know it's safe.

If this is simply whimsical behavior, they should all be outside again by now.
 
Yes, I worried about my hens with the same behavior. They go out in the morning, they have a half an acre fenced yard and around noon they go in the coop and hang around for a long while, then they go back out until roosting time. Not all of them do that, but about half of my flock of 13. It is windy here some times, not every day. No predators around. I have a HDTV camera in the coop and I watch them snooze while they are in. I don't think any of my hens is under the weather because otherwise they act normal. I think they just like it in there. Three days ago I moved them into a bigger coop (so I just clean one coop instead of 2) and they stopped the behavior. Maybe they will resume when they get comfy in the bigger coop which BTW they all knew, it's always been there open to them, they all have stayed there before but for some reason they liked the smaller coop. All I did, I closed the hen door in the small coop to force them to go in the bigger one.
 

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