Chickens no longer going in coop at night

[aart]

I have 6 hens and a rooster. I have had them since they were 8 weeks old and since April 2016. We let our birds out to forage at least half of each day.
One of my hens is missing. I saw her yesterday, and have looked for her all day today. We've found no signs of predation. Could she be brooding somewhere on our 5 acres and not come in the run at the end of the day? None of my hens have ever spent the night outside the run. I'm beginning to worry. Would she roost in a tree?

Could she have been runoff by pecking order?

Welcome to BYC, sorry you're having troubles.
She could be sitting in eggs somewhere, eventually she'll come back to eat and drink once a day.
She could be lost due to a predator scare and has not found her way home yet.
Or she could have been picked off by a predator, you don't always see signs.
Time will tell.

In the future...it's best and more polite to start a new thread:
Go to the sub forum page(managing your flock in this case),
and click the 'post new thread' button.

 

[RookieFlock]

I have 6 hens and a rooster. I have had them since they were 8 weeks old and since April 2016. We let our birds out to forage at least half of each day.
One of my hens is missing. I saw her yesterday, and have looked for her all day today. We've found no signs of predation. Could she be brooding somewhere on our 5 acres and not come in the run at the end of the day? None of my hens have ever spent the night outside the run. I'm beginning to worry. Would she roost in a tree?

I had a suspicion one of our hens wasn't sleeping in the run OR coops at night about a month ago. A few of our girls had figured out how to fly out of our old run (which was open on top, and they would return at night. Well, one learned to fly out a bit later and I'd see her out early in the morning (I hadn't checked the coops at night) foraging. She looked...disheveled, I guess? Anyways, I thought maybe she was able to get out and not back in.

So, the next night I went and checked my coops. I actually picked up the stubborn girls that were roosting outside the coop and put them in only to discover, sure enough my one hen was missing. I got out a flashlight and started scanning all the trees on our property for her. There was no sign of her whatsover, and I was getting worried she might have been found by a predator. Only, then, I stopped looking in the trees...and went by the run. She was actually sleeping on the ground outside the run tucked up right against it. She must've slept like that at least 10 times since figuring out how to escape the run...so she was totally vulnerable but nothing got her. The thing about predators is you're safe until you aren't. It's a matter of never knowing when they're going to get wise to the fact that there's chickens around...and sometimes you can feel like you're pretty secure and then all the sudden you lose one.

 

[RookieFlock]

Welcome to BYC....where in Michigan are you?

I don't see where you stated the size of your coop..in feet by feet.
Maybe I missed it?
Also how long is the roost?
Pics of coop inside and out and run would also help a lot.

You need to figure out why they won't go in the coop at night, there has to be a reason.

Ditto on the netting not being secure.....and we don't know what kind of metal fencing.

We're in mid-Michigan. Lansing area. We have 3 separate coops (the kind you can buy at Tractor Supply) all contained within the 25 x 25 ft fenced area. Each coop is designed to fit about 10 chickens, but we only have 10 chickens total plus the two ducks. We have it set up so our original flock (5) have their coop, the newbies (5) have their own, and the ducks (2) have their own. The only thing I've noticed about the coop recently is that there was a large amount of ants in one last time I went to clean the coops. I cleaned it out, and laid down fresh DE to discourage bugs & mites. I also lay DE throughout the run for their dust baths.

Metal fencing is galvanized steel welded wire with openings about 2in x 3in, but 1/2in hardware cloth lining the bottom third.

 

[RookieFlock]

One more thing to add to all those excellent points already given, I don't know where you are located but your chickens might not been sleeping in the coop because it is too hot???

I know you mentioned ventilation holes but are there enough?

We're in Michigan, so it hasn't been too hot. Gets down to about 40-50 F at night

 

[aart]

We're in mid-Michigan. Lansing area. We have 3 separate coops (the kind you can buy at Tractor Supply) all contained within the 25 x 25 ft fenced area. Each coop is designed to fit about 10 chickens, but we only have 10 chickens total plus the two ducks. We have it set up so our original flock (5) have their coop, the newbies (5) have their own, and the ducks (2) have their own. The only thing I've noticed about the coop recently is that there was a large amount of ants in one last time I went to clean the coops. I cleaned it out, and laid down fresh DE to discourage bugs & mites. I also lay DE throughout the run for their dust baths.

Metal fencing is galvanized steel welded wire with openings about 2in x 3in, but 1/2in hardware cloth lining the bottom third.

Hmmmm....well, yeah, those coops may be labeled to say they will fit 10 birds,
but they lie - big time. Most will only fit 2-3 birds, plus they have lousy ventilation.
That's why the some of your birds are roosting outside the coops. You can either build a bigger coop to fit all birds with accommodations for integrating new birds in the future....
....or keep juggling the present situation.

Good info here on Space:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
..and Ventilation:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1048597/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts

Oh, BTW, DE will not kill ants or mites.

 

[RookieFlock]

Hmmmm....well, yeah, those coops may be labeled to say they will fit 10 birds,
but they lie - big time. Most will only fit 2-3 birds, plus they have lousy ventilation.
That's why the some of your birds are roosting outside the coops. You can either build a bigger coop to fit all birds with accommodations for integrating new birds in the future....
....or keep juggling the present situation.

Good info here on Space:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
..and Ventilation:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1048597/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts

Oh, BTW, DE will not kill ants or mites.

Really? From what I've read DE kills both ants & mites (and other soft-bodied insects) by drying them out, so not instantly but eventually should kill them

 

[aart]

Really? From what I've read DE kills both ants & mites (and other soft-bodied insects) by drying them out, so not instantly but eventually should kill them

Yep, I've read that too...it's repeated ad nauseam.
It might help to prevent an infestation, but I wouldn't count on it to kill and infestation.
About the only things DE will do, is lighten you wallet and make you feel like your solving a problem...oh, it IS good for killing grain mites in stored grain/feed.

Scoop up some of those ants in a glass jar, add a goodly amount of DE, shake it up and see how long they take to die.

 

[lazy gardener]

Do a control with a group of ants in a jar w/o DE. they will likely die anyways! Agree with Aart. It's a huge false advertisement that should not be allowed re: the manufacturer's statements about how many birds can live in a coop. and, the nature of them being flock animals: they'd rather all roost outside together, at risk of predation than roost in smaller groups in a coop or multiple coops that won't comfortably accommodate the whole flock.