Any ideas why my chickens would be staying inside so much lately? I’m a little worried about them. It’s been kind of a while they’ve been doing it. At first I thought maybe they were scared of a hawk cause we have a lot and I saw one perched on the run one day and then I thought maybe they just don’t like the material in the run and prefer bare dirt (this is my dad’s theory) but now I just don’t know. I don’t really get why they would prefer to be inside the coop even on nice days? I can see on bad weather days. They have been coming out more lately but they often seem to just like to hang out inside. It is really weird. They will come out for a while but then go back in. I don’t think they are sick or anything, when I open the back door to check them, they come up to see me and talk to me and even try to escape lol and whenever they hear the kitchen door open (we have French doors in the kitchen leading onto the back deck. Chickens are in the backyard), they all come running out of the coop to say hi to me and they talk and pace and everything and all seem very active, happy, and healthy. I also let them out to free range sometimes, usually for a couple hours at a time, today was like 5 hours, and they happily free range and run/walk, fly, scratch, and peck all over the yard and don’t hang inside or seem sick or anything. Yet they often are just inside the coop in the middle of the day. It is the strangest thing. They are also not laying eggs. Well, one is. And another odd thing actually, a couple weeks ago, we got 4 eggs 2 days in a row (actually I think one day we just got 3 but still, multiple layers), but then they stopped and now only one is laying again? But some of the others’ combs are red as if they are laying but they aren’t. Also, for a few days we had a lot of eggs break and it seemed odd, almost like we had an egg eater? But now the eggs have been fine since. So maybe not. The other layer has been laying nearly every day for maybe like a month or two. But we have also heard coyotes very close this week and we lost Gator (our 6 1/2 year old Black Lab/Great Pyrenees mix) 2 days after Christmas so a little over a month ago. He used to keep them away. So is it possible they are scared of the coyotes or miss him?? They are in the woods right behind their coop as well as next to the garage/front yard and very loud. But like I said, one chicken is laying fine so wouldn’t she be scared too? Also, some of them seem to be a bit fat lately and a couple have poop on their butt feathers again (they did a while ago but were fine after the fall molt till now), so would being fat contribute to the non laying? I am trying to let them free range more because of that; hopefully give them some exercise. I assume the fat is from laying around in the coop so much because I really have not given them any treats lately. I wonder if maybe putting up some sort of solid barrier on part of the run would make them feel a little more secure? It is pretty wide open. I am just worried about them and want them to feel safe and happy and start laying again. But the weird thing is they don’t act sick at all otherwise besides staying inside a bit more than usual. They also turned 3 in October.
we will see how long they stay out for. 
