Hen perching under coop?

arrowti

Songster
9 Years
Jul 20, 2014
550
673
226
Maine
This morning we woke up to a hen on the deck. We haven't been counting at night since they hate the snow and are usually all in, but I guess one of them decided different. She had nice, healthy looking feathers (no sign of picking), no frostbite, good weight, no hanging belly and clear eyes, so the only reason I can think of for her to want to perch out in the cold is because she was hiding under the coop when we shut them up and we didn't see her walking around to know she was out.

So tonight, closed the coop and looked out a little later to see our standard rooster (we have a bantam as well) pacing around outside the coop. Went out to let him in and heard some scuffling under the coop and then silence. Checked with a flashlight to see both that hen and the rooster perching on a pipe (coop was a former camper), huddled up close together next to the tire. Now, in this spot they'd be sheltered from the wind and snow, BUT not from any predator large enough to go under which is basically anything smaller than a large dog...

Long story short, prodded at them with a long branch until they got off and had to literally grad the hen by her tail feathers to get her to go in. Rooster went in after her.

Why would a hen be choosing to perch outside? She immediately got up on one of the perches after getting her in and wasn't being attacked by any other chickens. I'm assuming the rooster was trying to get her in, then gave up and decided to stay out with her to protect her during the night.
 

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