chickens used to return to henhouse...now won't

hi all,

I've had three red star chickens now for 6 weeks or so. I kept them in their henhouse, as I read in other threads for a week before letting them have roam of my backyard. Up until last week, they had faithfully returned to their house, every night at dusk. Last week, however, they decided to roost on our deck's fence, which is about 4' tall with a 2" wide railing. The deck itself is trellised with grapevine, so it's got a very enclosed feeling. I've looked at other threads and, although I get that sometimes chickens are just weird and try to roost elsewhere, I've yet to find the "whys" of their behaviour. Are they trying to send me a message, that they don't like their home, or something about their home? Today we had a terrible thunderstorm and even though their run and henhouse doors were open, they still opted to hang out in the rain, regardless of the thunder. Is this normal? Every night, I have to go out, and carry each one from my deck fence all the way to their coop. Two go willingly, one, makes a huge fuss, and has now figured out that running from me and hiding under huge hostas is a great escape plan. I don't want to have to coop train them again, as I'm happy to have them out and about. I just wanted to know why they've decided to change their habits.

Thanks.

The porch is probably a higher roost than the coops.

I have noticed that if one chicken decides to do something the rest will usually just go along. This is especially true if it's already the "boss hen" of the flock. This is why some chicks sleep in the nest boxes or on the coop floor or pullets lay eggs all over the yard.

While all these things can be annoying or inconvenient,roosting out of the coop at night is the most concerning as it can also be dangerous (or deadly) since chickens that feel safe are sound sleepers and have poor night vision.

My experience is that there is little to do the head off this sort of behavior and that unless the chickens are scared into changing their behavior by a predator you can keep doing what you are doing which it will take patients and consistence on your part or you can confine then in the coop for 3-4 days so they forget about their current night time roost. Or if you have an enclosed run maybe you can lure them in the run in the early evening and limit their roosting options. My girls will go anywhere for melon rinds and seeds.

Our pullets (~17 weeks old) are still cautious around our hens. They have been roosting on top of the nest boxes which happens to be the same height off the ground as the highest roost inside the coop. for the past 3 weeks. This is outside the coop but inside the enclosed run and relatively safe but I don't want it to be a permanent thing so I have been going out there right after dark and putting them into the coop every night. A week ago the Maran started to into the coop an roost on the lower roost but she's the low chicken in the 2013 batch so the rest didn't follow her. Last night I found both the Maran and the Buff Orp (the junior flocks"boss") already inside the coop and on the roost so hopefully the two remaining pullets will follow her in the next few nights.

@whittni-that's what my egg farmer friend said, too, but I couldn't get my mind around it since 1) the fence isn't protected by walls, and 2) the coop sits on a hill which is higher than the fence (and shouldn't chickens know that their house is on a higher elevation?! Haha)
@aggiemae. Thanks for the info. You're right, the boss decides. Even when they roost on the fence, two sit side by side and the lowliest chicken (also the friendliest to us humans, btw) sits at their feet, sort of slotted in under the other two's chests. I don't mind carrying them up every night, and I like your idea of encouraging them up a bit earlier. My husband is in the process of building them a larger enclosed run, as I feel that the one we have now is a bit small, and then I won't feel as bad if they get sentenced to their enclosure earlier in the evening. I haven't found any treats they like...and I've tried almost all the veggie standbys I've read
on BYC. Melon rinds though, ill give that a go for sure!
Good luck with your girls, too!

I too am having a similar situation. Two free range hens sleep in trees no matter the weather. I tried to enclose them with my nearly three month old cockerels yesterday. Lasted all of an hour. What followed was complete mayhem. The three cockerels (which surprise! thought I had only one til I looked one day and alll of a sudden realized I was looking at not one but three future roosters) started playfighting harder amongst themselves and tthe hens bulllied them merciliessly untill I rescued them. The poor things were ttrying to squeeze thru the gaps in the fencing (20 gauge diameter, no go)/Anywho, the girls sleep in the trees and the kids sleep on the ground on some hay instead of using the various height perches i strew about the run and coop., Darn independent animals....

Ha^ chickens are weird.

It's the risk we take when we allow our animals to have a more natural setting. I am OK with it.

I want to be "ok" with it, but in reality I would be crushed if something happened to my baby birds. I worry excessively about them, to the point that it drives my husband nuts.

Tacampbell1973 said:

I want to be "ok" with it, but in reality I would be crushed if something happened to my baby birds. I worry excessively about them, to the point that it drives my husband nuts.

Click to expand...

I was saying I was OK with chickens being weird!

We have nine hens including two Buffs, two RIRs and two Marans and I can tell them apart. Like you I am very careful with my hens. In fact I am still going out after dark to put two pullets that are still afraid of the older hens into the coop and up on the roost every night. They are already roosting in the covered and enclosed run so they are pretty safe from night time predators but I wouldn't be able to sleep if I wasn't sure they were 100% safe in the coop.

That actuallly sounds familiar. I tried to put my two free range hens in with the babies as I thought they were getting old enough to get along. Wrong answer. Mayhem ensued I look out my window every time I wake up to see if they are ok. We live on the edge of a forest and have nearly every predator known to man and bird. My next prob is soon to happen as I have an exact same amount of hens as cockerels. I don't want to have to choose between them. I am debating the possiblity of creating sebveral runs for all.