Indoor chicken? (her choice not mine)

[Pequena Bandada]

We have a 6 month old Salmon Faverolle (hatchery, not breeder stock) who almost never leaves the coop. She's at the bottom of the pecking order, and was quite picked on by one of my EEs when we integrated the babies with the big girls. That EE no longer lives with us, and Lovey (the SF) seems to get along with everyone now. I haven't seen any of the chickens be aggressive to her except the head hen, who will snap at Lovey or anyone else if they try to take her treats. So she's pretty much treated like any other chicken. But she spends her entire day inside the coop up on one of the roosts while the other eight chickens are outside together. She never comes out unless we force her. At night Lovely sleeps on the same roost with everyone else, but on one end with a bit of space between her and the next chicken.

She absolutely adores people and immediately jumps off the roost to come stand on my feet or perch on my shoulder when I'm in the coop. I take her out in the yard with me, and then put her in the run with the other chickens, but the instant I leave she dashes back into the coop.

Is this cause for concern?

 

[kla37]

You could try keeping her inside. I never knew people did that until I found this site. If she had outside time during the day so she can dustbathe and scratch and peck, she might be really happy with that kind of life! It depends on what you are comfortable with. She sounds like a real sweetheart.