Girls sleeping too much?

[gratefulchick]

My 8 girls seem to be sleeping too much. 4 of them are around 4 years old and the others about 1 1/2 years old. They go to bed early, usually by 6 pm and don't come out till 8 am or so. They don't seem to be laying very well either, probably need to get some artificial light going again. I live at about 9200 feet in the mountains and the nights are pretty cool but it seems weird to be waking chickens up, should be the other way around!

Any input appreciated!

 

[CMV]

Whenever my chickens seem "off" the first thing I do is check them for worms and parasites. Mites will really tap a chicken quickly. It is not normal to have your hens acting lethargic, so either they have a health problem or they have something keeping them up all night. Any chance they have nocturnal visitors in the coop? Mice? Snakes? If not, then they may have bugs either inside or out.

Good luck with them.

 

[gratefulchick]

Thanks for your reply. They seem fine when they're free ranging, engergetic, happy, etc. Your question about night predators is valid. We had a raccoon (I think) pull one of their heads through and kill her predawn so now they are double locked up until I open their door. We live in the mountains and there are foxes, raccoons and all sorts of things out there. Maybe they hear them? They can't get to the chickens but that is a possibility.