Hen on my porch, not with flock, by choice.

[smudge]

Should I be worried? My littlest hen has decided she no longer wants to overnight in the coop. In fact, tonight it almost looked like she'd go in the coop, but when she saw me approaching to close up for the night, she bolted.

She broke her leg last summer and limps, but she can still get on a roost no problem. She's spent a lot of time on the porch as my nurse/companion hen for "patients", as well as when she was recovering from her break. However, since the last patient died (crop issues) last month, she's taken to using the late comrade's perch.

Should I be worried about this self isolation? I'm worried about the isolation, not the location. She socializes during the daytime.

FWIW, this is an Egyptian Fayoumi.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How big is your coop? Did she lose a favorite companion? She may be bottom bird, and is afraid to go into the coop. How old is she?

 

[smudge]

She's 14 months. And she is near bottom since returning after her injury - before, the rooster favored her. She is also the smallest. The coop is 64 sq ft and at the moment 8 are sleeping in it.

She has been doing this since our visiting patient hen died. She was roosting on top of a rabbit hutch in an enclosed porch while the patient was inside the hutch - because the patient didn't want to share her roost. (This hen hates me, but seems not to pick on other hens a lot.) She's now taken up using that girl's old roosting spot.

I brought her back to the coop for a few days, and she would roost with everyone else - at least, she'd be on the roost in the morning. But she continues to return to the porch, so for the moment I've been letting her. Maybe she feels insecure after last month's molt - she looked like something from a Tim Burton movie, but she looks fine now. *shrug*

 

[chickens really]

Chickens are creatures of habit...She got accustom to Roosting there..Put her in at sun down to retrain her where home is...Don't put human emotions on the Chickens...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She's 14 months. And she is near bottom since returning after her injury - before, the rooster favored her. She is also the smallest. The coop is 64 sq ft and at the moment 8 are sleeping in it.

She has been doing this since our visiting patient hen died. She was roosting on top of a rabbit hutch in an enclosed porch while the patient was inside the hutch - because the patient didn't want to share her roost. (This hen hates me, but seems not to pick on other hens a lot.) She's now taken up using that girl's old roosting spot.

I brought her back to the coop for a few days, and she would roost with everyone else - at least, she'd be on the roost in the morning. But she continues to return to the porch, so for the moment I've been letting her. Maybe she feels insecure after last month's molt - she looked like something from a Tim Burton movie, but she looks fine now. *shrug*

I agree, keep moving her to the coop. Molting can cause them to switch where they roost because it's uncomfortable. Every year a few try to sleep in my nestboxes while molting and need to be retrained.

 

[smudge]

Update: she's back with everyone else!

She had a bad molt, so perhaps that was it.