Chicken not sleeping enough?

[EmiliaJosefina]

About a week ago, I moved my chickens (a pair of silkies) into a new pen. I live in a tropical area, so the pen is just chain-link fencing with shade cloth and a straw roof. They have access to a nesting box big enough to sleep in and access to a roosting area, which they play on during the day but don't sleep on. My cockerel goes into the nesting box to sleep once it gets dark, and my pullet will initially follow him, but then she comes out again about 20 minutes later. I have an outside light near the pen and both the cockerel and pullet come out once I turn it on to catch bugs, but my cockerel gets tired after a while and goes back to sleep while my pullet stays up. It gets dark around 5:30 and I haven't seen the pullet sleep anytime between then and 10-11, when I go to bed, and both she and the cockerel are up by 5 AM, maybe earlier.

Should I be concerned about this? If so, what can I do to help her sleep? Should I find a way to make the pen darker? Will my pullet adjust on her own? How much does a chicken actually need to sleep at night? These are my first chickens, and everyone else's chickens around here put themselves to bed in the trees at dusk and don't come down until morning (which isn't an option for mine due to their inability to fly/ reluctance to climb very high.) My pullet seems happy and alert during the day, but I don't want the stress of sleepless nights to catch up with her.

Any advice for this concerned chicken keeper? Should I just chill out and let them do their chicken thing?

 

[boskelli1571]

Hello & welcome!

Your set-up sounds perfect. I really wouldn't worry about your hen getting too little sleep. She will rest when she is good and ready.
When I get new birds, it always seems like they don't want to go to bed with everyone else, but they adjust over time.

 

[DanEP]

When I was working I did just fine on 6 hours sleep, she will too.If she's tired she will take a nap.