One girl not on roost bars?

[Dynamissa]

Checked my coop cam last night and. Found one of my girls is t on the roost bars with the others today.. I have never seen this before. Haven’t noticed any difference in her recently … they are all about 17-18 weeks old.

I have a parrot and laying on the bottom of the cage is a big red flag for them health wise - is this the same? What should I look out for? Or might they just do this?

Thanks

 

[Muser]

Does this happen frequently or just a one off? Chicken's eye sight in the dark is pretty bad so she might not have had the confidence to try and find the roost in the dark. Sometimes I have a hen who likes to occassionally sleep in the nesting area - we all need our own space sometimes

If she's doing it frequently, she might be the lowest on the pecking order, the top hens/cockerels seem to like the higher spots, probably for dominance reasons. If no bullying is apparant and she's doing ok, she's probably just figuring things out

 

[Dynamissa]

This is the first time I’ve seen her there in the 2 months they’ve been in the coop! She is running around just fine and everything now that they are in the run.

It did drop to around 56f overnight, and during the summer I have a ventilation door open… I wonder if she could have also been a little
Chilly? But yeah I haven’t seen exactly what the pecking order is with them, it looks pretty nebulous to me haha.

I have seen some people say their Orpingtons like to sit at the door.. maybe she’s staring to do that? But thanks for
The suggestions!

 

[AnnPann]

My hens def have favorite spots, but those spots seem to change every few months. Maybe a hen higher than her on the pecking order decided she wanted her spot, and the one on the ground has decided the ground is just fine for her. I agree if nothing else seems off, it's not anything to worry about!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Haven’t noticed any difference in her recently …

To me, that is important. If she were acting unhealthy I'd be concerned but she is not.

they are all about 17-18 weeks old.

At that age they are sorting out the pecking order and determining social status in the flock. That order can change a few times as individuals mature at different rates. Sometimes you see fighting or bullying during this stage, often it is more by intimidation. Nobody is getting injured so I'm OK with that.

I have a parrot and laying on the bottom of the cage is a big red flag for them health wise

It is not a red flag for chickens. I don't care where my chickens sleep as long as it is not in the nests and is somewhere predator safe.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Could be as simple as she fell off during all the jockeying for position during bedtime, and it was too dark to see to go back up. In cases like that they'll just hunker down on the floor somewhere (and sometimes migrate around a bit, but remain somewhere on the floor).

 

[Dynamissa]

Thank you!