12 week old pullets go back to bed late morning

[Giersons]

Good morning everyone,

I am new to raising chicks and my 12 week old Barred Rock hens are cracking me up… they have a automatic chicken coop door that opens at dawn and closes at dusk. The last week they have been coming out of the coop around 7am, eating, and going back in the coop to roost around 8am. They remind me of my teenager who eats and goes back to bed! Is this normal chicken behavior? lol is there any downside to this?

 

[Brooks_]

Good morning everyone,

I am new to raising chicks and my 12 week old Barred Rock hens are cracking me up… they have a automatic chicken coop door that opens at dawn and closes at dusk. The last week they have been coming out of the coop around 7am, eating, and going back in the coop to roost around 8am. They remind me of my teenager who eats and goes back to bed! Is this normal chicken behavior? lol is there any downside to this?

Could be normal or at least normal for yours. Do they have perches or other clutter in the run?

 

[Giersons]

Could be normal or at least normal for yours. Do they have perches or other clutter in the run?

Yup they have a perch in the run they all can fit on. And they like their ramp to roost on too as it has a platform at the bottom and top.

 

[TooCheep]

I've never heard of this before, but as long as they have full access to the run and no other physical/behavioral problems, I wouldn't worry about it. My girls tend to take naps in the afternoon, usually under a bush or other protected place when they are free ranging.

 

[Giersons]

I've never heard of this before, but as long as they have full access to the run and no other physical/behavioral problems, I wouldn't worry about it. My girls tend to take naps in the afternoon, usually under a bush or other protected place when they are free ranging.

Ok Yupp they’ll come back out around 10am and resume their day business as usual. Eat, sleep, play repeat. Or in my case sleep, eat, sleep, play, repeat. I have just never had chickens do this and was curious. thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Something else that can make chicken TV better than anything on cable, satellite, or antenna. I don't know that I'd call it normal but I see a lot of behaviors that I might not consider normal. As long as they are acing healthy I would not worry.

One survival technique feral chickens learned was to fill up their crop with food and then go somewhere they consider safe to digest it before they did it again. They are more vulnerable when they are eating. Maybe this has something to do with that. Or maybe they are just weird. In either case, they are chickens.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since they're coming back out on their own after "nap time" I'd just chalk it up to a weird habit that one of them picked up and taught the others. My last group of chicks would gather in the coop for play-and-explore-the-coop time in the middle of the day, but grew out of it as they got older.

 

[Chinachik]

Just curious. What breed are your chicks? Mine do the same thing. I have two Delawares and 1 Barred Rock. They don’t really sleep just kinda play around in the coop. I have a waterer and a small feeder in there. Sometimes they prefer the water and food there over the outside ones.

 

[Giersons]

Just curious. What breed are your chicks? Mine do the same thing. I have two Delawares and 1 Barred Rock. They don’t really sleep just kinda play around in the coop. I have a waterer and a small feeder in there. Sometimes they prefer the water and food there over the outside ones.

They are Barred Rocks. It’s funny because they still do this now at 22wks, but now they are forming a line and laying around 9-10am every morning lol it’s like a line for the bathroom- so funny

 

[Giersons]

They are Barred Rocks. It’s funny because they still do this now at 22wks, but now they are forming a line and laying around 9-10am every morning lol it’s like a line for the bathroom- so funny