Hi, my 5 hens that are 4 months old did not want to come down from their roost today. I't's 11am! Coop door opens at 8am. Very odd for them. Ideas?

[JoD2Tall]

Hi, my 5 hens that are 4 months old did not want to come down from their roost today. It's 11am! Coop door opens at 8am. Very odd for them. Any Ideas? I looked for any sign of a predator invasion. Nothing. They all appear healthy and happy. We are supposed to have severe weather later today, could they sense that? It's sunny blue skies at the moment. The clouds are building out west. So bizarre. Do they do this? It's my first feathered family.

 

[sourland]

My gut instinct is that there was a predator in the area.

 

[townchicks]

Something is scaring them. Animals can be very aware of weather also, changes in air pressure could be alerting them.. Let them come out on their own, and keep an eye out for predators.

 

[SamLockwood]

They have very keen eyesight. They see a wider range of colors than we can, and in daylight they can see movement much better than we can.

I've seen mine spot flying hawks 100 yards away in forest, and farther than that in open sky.

Their hearing's better than ours, too. Mine have reacted to incoming bad weather 10 to 20 minutes before I can hear anything.

Likely they sense something you can't.

 

[Anon112]

My gut instinct is that there was a predator in the area.

This was my thought as well: heard a hawk cry or saw a fox cruise through.