My chicken didn't come home till dawn?

[AdrieeC]

I am quite frustrated with my feathered children at the moment. It seems that every week there is something unusual going on with one of them.

A couple weeks ago we left home after dark to go to dinner. As I was driving out of the yard the headlights shown on the tractor and I caught a glimpse of a Buff Orpington sleeping in the run. We put her back on the roost with the other chickens. A few days later she did not come home at dusk like the others, and dh found her roosting on the grill at the north side of the house. He put her in the coop and all was well. Yesterday we noticed that she was missing several hours before dusk, which is not entirely unheard of for several of the hens to do from time to time.. so we did not worry, but when she did not come home at dusk we searched unsuccessfully for her. I suspected a predator may have gotten her or would get her if she stayed out all night, but this morning when I went out to do the usual checks and let everyone out, there she was, walking around the outside of the tractor like nothing happened the night before...What the heck? Why is she doing that, and what should I do if she continues?

 

[chicmom]

Maybe she's been out drinking and fooling around!

I'm totally kidding....she may be low on the totem pole and so she doesn't want to go in.....

 

[AdrieeC]

HAHA yeah... wild parties with the chickens down the road or something... LOL

should I just let her continue to do it?

 

[slickchik]

I don't know why she is doing that but I WOULD NOT let he keep doing it because eventually something will kill her in the night.

 

[chicmom]

There is a risk of her being nabbed by a predator, but she could stay out in the chicken run if that was a secure area--wouldn't hurt a bit.

 

[AdrieeC]

what would you recommend doing to encurage her to go to the coop?

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Is she of laying age? I am wondering if she has a hidden nest and is starting to go broody.



To encourage her to go back before dusk, give them their fav treats in the coop yard and shut the yard up so she cannot leave.

 

[AdrieeC]

Yes, she is laying. I did not think about the hidden nest thing. If she continues to roost outside I think you might be right. We had an issue with the BOs laying in the yard so we locked everyone in the tractor for a week. It seemed to have resolved the issue. Now that it's hot I am not getting as many eggs as I should be getting.... I have not decided what to do about it.

I suppose the treat thing would work if she can see that I am throwing them out...

 

[Chicks&Chihuahuas]

darn party animals

I second the hidden nest hypothesis...

 

[n2thestorm5032]

one of my chickens started doing that.. i let them out around 8 in the morning into just the run then at noon let them run the yard, one of my chickens never went in at night so i had to go find her.

so what i did was when this started happening and it when on for about a week, i didnt let any chicken out of the run for 3 days, (I wasnt going to let 3 chickens out and leave the other one in so they all had to suffer

) and after the third day of going just in the run not the outside world beyond the run. i let them out and its been a month and she has been going in with the rest ever since!