has something scared our girls? or is something more sinister going on?

[TomandBarbara]

We have had our three girls since august this year and although we had to put them in the coop ourselves the first two nights, after that they roosted in their run for about half hour before going in the coop by themselves every night.

My hubby opened the pop hole this morning and said they seemed reluctant to come out, then this evening they refused point blank to go in!! Hubby shone a torch through the coop to entice them in and they did have a good look round but in the end We had to resort to taking them off their perch and putting them in.

there is no sign of anything wrong in the coop, no sign of mites etc but one of the girls has taken to laying her egg in the run instead of the nest box ( the other two are still using the nest no probs) dont know if theres a connection or not.

Bit of back ground we live next to a woodland but have not had any problems with predators, in fact the girls usually see off all the wild birds and next doors alsatian dog!!

thanks everyone this has made us both quite concerned.

 

[sumi]

It sounds like something scared them while they were in the coop. May have been a predator trying to get in. Lots of predators are more active at night.