Chickens Refuse to Forage

[PlumCrazy68]

I have had chickens for the better part of 7 years. I moved to a larger piece of property over a year ago so now I'm on 4 acres of wooded property. Here recently my chickens (around 40 or so) have not been foraging, as in they down right refuse. If I watch them on the camera's at my house or when I'm home, all they do is hang around the house, gather on my front porch and under my vehicles. Successfully crapping all over the place making everything look like it was plaster dipped. I have recently STOPPED feeding them but 1 time a day, in the morning before work but the situation has not improved. This is the first time this has every happened to me, so my question is......Do I keep pulling back on the feed till they are forced to roam and do what chickens do, or is there something else I'm missing? Have I done something that has produced undesirable behavior like feeding them to much. Or am I at a point where I'm going to have to thin out the flock and bring in fresh birds? I have about 20 chicks that will be ready to be put into the flock in a few weeks and I don't want them learning this behavior.

 

[sourland]

Is there any possibility that this behavior is caused by predators in the area?

 

[PlumCrazy68]

Is there any possibility that this behavior is caused by predators in the area?

I have a family of red shouldered hawks that line in the area and some barred owls, but they have never bothered my full grown chickens. They have however grabbed some little guys before that where small enough to carry off, the hawks that is. The hawks have never stopped them. I did however, have a bad issue with a couple mangy yotes that were wrecking my s*** for about a month straight. They learned when I was home and when I wasn't, I eventually trapped one and caught the other by accident walking out the front door and I just happened to have my Shotgun. The yote situation ended about 2 months ago, so you may be onto something. Now I have to find a way to fix it.