Chickens stopped going in coop…

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

For some reason our leghorns stopped going in their normal coop at night. They are roughly 2 years old and have been in the same coop the whole time. About 2 weeks ago we went to shut the coops up and there were 4 of the 7 on top of a store bought coop we use for chicks, no chicks in it at the time, we carried them back to the original coop that night. Since then it has been every night. There are other chickens still using that coop, we cleaned it out and checked to make sure there were no mice or other odd critters in there, but they still refuse to go in there at night.
Our tween pullets , 4 months, are still trying to roost in their old chick coop, but that’s because we left them in there too long, and took too long to finish their wing of the hillybilly condo coop.

hey, my chickens roost in the trees!

 

[StinkyAcres]

Sounds like some type of Alpha predator is stirring about that has them on edge. Or a red mite infestation can cause strange behaviors. And I am speaking from experience regarding the latter as I have had a hell of a time dealing with them over the winter, maybe due to the above average rainfall we have had in Southside VA since mid-December. This after not dealing with mites of any type in decades...

Same here. This winter we had our first mite infestation since 2016. And it's the worst I've seen. We had a very mild and wet winter.