My chickens stopped pooping at night

[BassBirdie]

My two year-old hens stopped pooping at night when we got really hot weather a couple of days ago, after I gave them watermelon two days in a row. One of them pooped out an egg one night, the other laid one the next day. They're pooping, eating, and drinking during the day, and seem as healthy and active as always. My two 3-month old chicks also haven't been pooping every night since it got really hot. Is there something I should do? They're all behaving normally. I have stopped giving them anything except their regular food - no treats.

 

[Kiki]

How do you know your chickens aren't pooping at night?

 

[TooCheep]

Watching. I'm curious about this. I have one of my three hens that likes to sleep in the nest boxes. She is at the bottom of the hierarchy and one of the other hens picks on her mercilously on the roost, so I eventually let her sleep there. She generally doesn't poop in the nest box (maybe 1 of 10 days) and is otherwise perfectly fine and normal.

 

[ShannonR]

Watching. I'm curious about this. I have one of my three hens that likes to sleep in the nest boxes. She is at the bottom of the hierarchy and one of the other hens picks on her mercilously on the roost, so I eventually let her sleep there. She generally doesn't poop in the nest box (maybe 1 of 10 days) and is otherwise perfectly fine and normal.

Do you poop at night when you're sleeping?

 

[TooCheep]

No, but that is very common for chickens. They generally put out about 1/2 of their daily "load" at night from what I've seen. This same bird poops normally at night when she is on the roost.

 

[hellotrixie]

I'm just guessing that OP uses a droppings board or similar under the roost and can see piles in the morning. This is the case for me.

@BassBirdie are their crops full when they go to bed at night?

 

[BassBirdie]

I check them at night - they're on the roost - and I clean the coops every morning. The two adults are in a separate coop from the two juvenile birds, so it's easy to keep track of their habits. This morning things were almost back to normal, and the temps during the day yesterday were under 100 F. They eat before bed, their crops are full. I'm hoping this is just a temporary aberration.

 

[orloffer]

Do you poop at night when you're sleeping?

Chickens are one of those animals that, surprisingly, do poop at night.