Chicken jumping off roost at night and sleeping on floor of coop - why??

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

Our 10 month old pullet has had a slew of health issues in the past, so whenever she is acting strange we freak out. Especially if she's off the roost at night- since back when she had wry neck we found her on the bottom of the coop wedged behind a PVC pipe.

The last few nights she has gone up to roost like normal, but then after it gets dark, she jumps off. I have a camera in there so I know when some movement has happened. Two nights ago, we freaked out after going out there and turning on the light- thinking she just fell off and couldn't figure out how to get back up in the dark. She wanted to be on the floor. I put her back up- a few times, before turning off the light. But she ended up on the floor again so we took her inside. The next morning we gave her vitamin supplements- afraid of wry neck coming back- and put her outside. She's acting normal, she's not broody, she's laying eggs normally, eating and drinking, and we also checked her feet to make sure she didn't have bumblefoot (3 of ours currently have it). Last night we went to bed around 10pm and she was up there on the roost. I woke up at 6:30am to see the camera went off at 12:30am, and she was on the floor wedged against a pipe again. I went out there and turned on the light, and she was fine, she got up, walked around, she was acting normal. But it really freaked me out.. I left the light on in the coop and went back inside. (We have an auto door that opens when it's light out).

Why the heck would she be doing this?? Any thoughts??

 

[M-H-Fielding]

Maybe another hen beat her in a fight so she knows that she is not supposed to be on the perch?
Pecking orders can be very complex sometimes.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So she's voluntarily jumping off in the dark?

My special needs bird (who had wry neck) often falls off in the dark, but she's not deliberately trying to be on the floor. She's just gravity-challenged.

 

[aart]

She's just gravity-challenged.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

We have a hen that is the picture of health and sleeps on the floor from time to time and she is THE HEAD HEN ....with the wise people here they have taught me that CHICKENS do what CHICKENS do and not to worry too much because it generally works itself out.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Do you have enough space for all flock members to comfortable fit on the roosts?
You may want to add some lower roosts for her or one at her floor level.

 

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

Here's what they usually look like. I added a lower roost because of the bumble foot but they prefer to be on the top. No need for crowding, but they do it. The chicken in question is probably #3 on top of hierarchy, and it's currently not having fighting issues (but has in the past).

 

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

I guess it's possible someone was punking her in the middle of the night.. For her to jump down a few days in a row is alarming. She stayed up here last night. We'll see what happens tonight.

 

[Squigit]

To add more (co-owner of the bird in this post), she scares us because she's had wry neck in the past, and in our video we can see that when she's on the floor she's often looking straight up. Otherwise though, she seems like a perfectly healthy bird.

 

[rosemarythyme]

To add more (co-owner of the bird in this post), she scares us because she's had wry neck in the past, and in our video we can see that when she's on the floor she's often looking straight up. Otherwise though, she seems like a perfectly healthy bird.

Something to keep an eye on then, though it may just be a weird thing that's comfortable for her when she sleeps.

I guess if you don't mind and she isn't right under the roost, getting pooped on, there's no reason she can't be on the floor, if she's going to insist on it. At least she's not in nest boxes. But yes I'd personally try and encourage her to stick on the roost, and hopefully you'll win the battle of wills.