Chickens rebel roost at night?!

[BeccaRecca13]

Well…
My chickens have been roosting perfect for the past 6-7 months… all of a sudden tonight I go out and every bird is either in a nest box, on the floor, on the droppings boards or dangling on the lip of the windows. I had maybe 3 birds that knew their “spot” and everyone else went rogue!

What in the world!?!
Anyone else have this problem randomally when locking up at night? I had to pick them all up and put them on the roosts. I haven’t had to do that in a while

 

[LadiesAndJane]

They may have gotten scared and scattered because of it. May be just a fluke.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

ummm. yes. WAY TO MUCH. I have 26 and even tho there are plenty of roosts.

 

[BeccaRecca13]

ummm. yes. WAY TO MUCH. I have 26 and even tho there are plenty of roosts.

Oh no! So they randomly lay all over the place for the night? This was my first night of putting everyone up.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Did you check for roost mites?

 

[BeccaRecca13]

Did you check for roost mites?

I check them, but didn’t know such a thing as roost mites! I’ll have to check today!

 

[aart]

I check them, but didn’t know such a thing as roost mites! I’ll have to check today!

Best to check at night, well after dark.
Roost mites hide all day and come out at night to feed.

My Bug Check notes:
Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[McChooky]

I would suspect something has hurt or frightened them. Chickens are creatures of habit and don't like change. They don't change their roosting habits for no reason.

 

[BeccaRecca13]

Went and locked up tonight. Everyone was back on the roosts!
I cleaned in the coop today and scraped all the droppings boards and roosting bars along with cleaning all the feathers out.
Everyone was good at lock up (6:30 EST)… at 7, I heard a strange noise, so I turned on the camera in the coop… heard growling through the back window of the coop and then most of the birds on the back two roosts jumped/flew to another area. [there have been sightings of bear and a bobcat in the area. But they haven’t made it to our coop yet] well… till tonight. I believe this maybe our “issue”. Electric fence is on HIGH, hopefully the intruder will keep wondering by!

 

[aart]

Went and locked up tonight. Everyone was back on the roosts!
I cleaned in the coop today and scraped all the droppings boards and roosting bars along with cleaning all the feathers out.
Everyone was good at lock up (6:30 EST)… at 7, I heard a strange noise, so I turned on the camera in the coop… heard growling through the back window of the coop and then most of the birds on the back two roosts jumped/flew to another area. [there have been sightings of bear and a bobcat in the area. But they haven’t made it to our coop yet] well… till tonight. I believe this maybe our “issue”. Electric fence is on HIGH, hopefully the intruder will keep wondering by!

Ah, mystery solved.
Do you have a tester for your fence, to make sure its working?
Might want to bait the fence with raw bacon,
make sure those buggers learn that 'this is not friendly place'.
A game cam pointed at the bait would be good too.