my chicken seems lost all of a sudden

Chicks4MyChicks

In the Brooder
Jul 30, 2016
13
0
30
We have had 6 chickens for about a year now. They have a 6' x 16' enclosed run with a raised 4'x6' coop on one end. There is a 'man' door on the end of the run, opposite from the coop. For the last year we simply open the 'man' door , prop it open and let the chicks free range in our yard all day. Fast forward to aprox 2 weeks ago and now my Partridge Rock can't seem to find her way out of the run. I open the door as usual, all my other chicks run out and free range yet poor Little Acorn sits in the one corner that is closest to her friends and she constantly runs into the wire mesh like she wants to be out with them. The door is wide open like 13' away from her and she just watched everyone else go out ........ I try coaxing her out by tossing a bit of scratch near the door etc ...... still nothing ..... I eventually go in and it still takes quite a bit to get her to go out ...... but I tell you, once she is out she is so happy and runs over to the rest of them and is often the last one to go back in. The next day is like deja vu ....... all over again and again ...... yet for the first year no issue

puzzled ........ any advice out there?
 
SMH.. Chickens. I expanded my run so now there's 2 chicken doors going out of my coop to 2 separate sections. There's chicken wire between the 2 sections and they can't go from one section to the other. They all KNOW they have to go inside the coop and out the other door to get to the back. They've all done it, but I always get a couple of them, when I toss treats into the back section, who run back and forth along the divider like 'How do I get over there?!' SMH.. Then eventually they'll run inside the coop and out the back. Also, through the back section they have access to under the coop which is blocked in on the other 3 sides. I have 1 bantam who goes under there and will come to the front and walk back and forth trying to get out with everyone else. Eventually she turns around and comes out like she's supposed to. I think sometimes they're just special. Maybe next time before you open the coop door try to get her by the door before you open it. It could have been that previously she was following all the others out and getting caught up in the rush for the door that she didn't know how she got out, she just followed everyone else.
 

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