Hen not roosting with others

[kwestley]

My girls used to roost all together! Now about a month ago, one of my hens starts to sleep on the ground by herself. I keep an eye on her to make sure she is not sick. She seems to be well!!

I decided to let her do her own business, but the problem that I encountered lately was the freezing poop. Since she is not roosting and the temperature here is below freezing, she ends up have a bunch of freezing poop on her butt. I had to wash her with warm water and the problem solved. I do not want to have to wash her poop all the time.

What should I do to make her roost with others again?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Is she being bullied off the roost by another hen maybe? How much roosting space / how many birds are there? How is your roost set up, could she be having trouble getting on the roost for some reason? Molting and can't fly as well, a heavy breed that is now mature and can't jump on the roost as well?

 

[StruckBy]

What Kelsie said. When I had a couple heavies that wouldn't perch at night anymore I just bought a 2X2, laid it from the perch to the ground, & screwed the end on the perch in to stabilize it. Worked great...they would sortof scoot sidewise up it until they were about as high as the hother hens. Gives a bonus of a bit more perch space.

 

[kwestley]

We have 8 hens and there are plenty of space for everyone. I noticed one of the hens pecked on her when I put the hen on the roost. I know she is on the lowest pecking order. She is not laying yet and I believe due to stress! She is a brahma and is more than 30 weeks old. They were fine a month ago, so why now? I don't think she is molting either!

 

[StruckBy]

Oddly, the hens I had that wanted to walk up the angled perch instead of flying up were brahma crosses that looked pure. I think they were heavy-bodied enough as they matured that they stopped trusting their wings. Mine were just reaching sexual maturity (demonstrated by one of the 'hens' starting to crow!) when they gave up flying/jumping. I hope your problem turns out to be as easy to fix!

 

[kwestley]

Oddly, the hens I had that wanted to walk up the angled perch instead of flying up were brahma crosses that looked pure. I think they were heavy-bodied enough as they matured that they stopped trusting their wings. Mine were just reaching sexual maturity (demonstrated by one of the 'hens' starting to crow!) when they gave up flying/jumping. I hope your problem turns out to be as easy to fix!

So based on what you said, she is getting too fat to fly up the roost!! LOL!!! I guess I need to figure what to do with her then! Maybe put a ladder for her, we'll see if that will help!

 

[StruckBy]

So based on what you said, she is getting too fat to fly up the roost!! LOL!!! I guess I need to figure what to do with her then! Maybe put a ladder for her, we'll see if that will help!

lol...pretty much. Just don't put her on a diet...she's not fat, just big-bodied for the size of her wings. I hope this is what it turns out to be for your situation too!

 

[Kelsie2290]

X2, hope it is just a big girl not as agile as the rest of them. I usually just put up a 2x4 with some 1x2 pieces nailed to it up as a ladder, the big girls climb up it, everybody else still flies. And the poor Brahmas, as somebody said, the old ones seem to fly as well as the Thanksgiving turkey, after it's been cooked.
Brahmas are really slow maturing and often late to lay, you do tend to get the pecking order re-arranged as the girls hit maturity, the early ones tend to move up in rank, and the late ones move down.