Strange chicken behavior at dusk

[08ammag]

Hi,

We have two chickens, they have a 26x13 square foot pen in the backyard. They're almost 1 years old now, but a couple of weeks ago they started flying out of the pen at dusk for 30-60 minutes. They try to come in the house, but if they can't, they walk around in the yard then fly back in to their space, and go to sleep in their coop. If we put them back, they just hop the fence again.

They only do this at dusk, it doesn't occur to them to hop the fence during the day.

Why could this be happening and how could we dissuade them from doing this again? We don't want to raise the height of the fence. We're guessing they're just feeling lonely at dusk but this is getting ridiculous.

Any thoughts?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like they don't find your pen safe or inviting to spend the night. What do you mean by pen? Is it enclosed? Pictures would help to figure out why your chickens aren't comfortable in their area, and what you can change. You should definitely think about covering it.

 

[aart]

Hi,

We have two chickens, they're free range, have a 26x13 square foot pen in the backyard. They're almost 1 years old now, but a couple of weeks ago they started flying out of the pen at dusk for 30-60 minutes. They try to come in the house, but if they can't, they walk around in the yard then fly back in to their space, and go to sleep in their coop. If we put them back, they just hop the fence again.

They only do this at dusk, it doesn't occur to them to hop the fence during the day.

Why could this be happening and how could we dissuade them from doing this again? We don't want to raise the height of the fence. We're guessing they're just feeling lonely at dusk but this is getting ridiculous.

Any thoughts?

Welcome to BYC!

Maybe the bugs becoming active at night may be why they are hopping the fence,
or do they come directly to your house?

But who knows<shrugs> chickens are fickle.

Why don't you want to make the fence higher?
Keeping birds confined to where you want them often means raising fence heights or covering pen/run.

A little confused about them free ranging.... then getting out of a run/pen.

 

[08ammag]

Hi,

Here are some photos. I think they're lonely and want to be with us right before they go to sleep. If they can't come in, because the door is closed, they go around for a while then jump back in their enclosure. There aren't too many bugs here, so I don't think that's it. They are not free range, I don't know why I wrote that.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Unfortunately your fence needs to be higher or you could clip one wing on each chicken. They are probably looking for a better place to roost. Chickens prefer a more open space and better ventilation. Your coop might be stuffy.

 

[aart]

Unfortunately your fence needs to be higher or you could clip one wing on each chicken. They are probably looking for a better place to roost. Chickens prefer a more open space and better ventilation. Your coop might be stuffy.

Agrees.

Looks like your somewhere tropical...so maybe high temps too?

That tiny prefab coop is probably OK size wise(barely) for your 2 birds, but they are not very well ventilated.