Hi, I have a question for all you experts. My girls are about a year and a half, and until last night I had never had a problem with them going into the coop at night.
Last night, they simply refused to go in; at 1030 pm they were still hanging out huddled together in a corner of the yard, and I had to pick them up and put them into the cage area that is attached to the coop. When I got up this morning, they were still out in the caged area, there were three eggs on the ground (I have four) and they were absolutely terrified when I tried to coax them into the coop.
The bottom of the coop is hardware cloth with plywood over that; I checked out the coop last night trying to see if anything had chewed through and I couldn't see anything and later today I will clean it out thoroughly to see better.
DH thinks there may be a snake living in it, I thought they would have eaten it if there was.
Any ideas?? Admittedly I live in Arizona, but it's getting into the low 40's and upper 30's at night, and I don't want them to freeze or be eaten by the animals that prowl the neighborhood.
Last night, they simply refused to go in; at 1030 pm they were still hanging out huddled together in a corner of the yard, and I had to pick them up and put them into the cage area that is attached to the coop. When I got up this morning, they were still out in the caged area, there were three eggs on the ground (I have four) and they were absolutely terrified when I tried to coax them into the coop.
The bottom of the coop is hardware cloth with plywood over that; I checked out the coop last night trying to see if anything had chewed through and I couldn't see anything and later today I will clean it out thoroughly to see better.
DH thinks there may be a snake living in it, I thought they would have eaten it if there was.
Any ideas?? Admittedly I live in Arizona, but it's getting into the low 40's and upper 30's at night, and I don't want them to freeze or be eaten by the animals that prowl the neighborhood.