One of my hens quit going into the coop at night, any ideas why?

[VinnyVincent]

I have 6 hens that are about 3 years old and have never had issues with them going into their coop at sundown. Within the past few weeks, one of my hens started sleeping on a chair on our back porch instead. She's the only one having this issue and she does not seem sick, or like anything is out of the ordinary. Other than maybe she just got a new set of feathers.
We always bring her to the coop each night and put her in, but the next day she is roosting on the chair at night, every time.

Any ideas what may be causing it, and what I can do to help her get back into the habit of going into the coop? I;m worried we will forget to put her up one night and a predator will get her.

 

[sourland]

Any possibility that another bird is bullying her? Molting birds sometimes become targets while molting.

 

[Tonyroo]

At roosting time bullying is sometimes common also if there's mites or rodents in the coop.

 

[VinnyVincent]

Any possibility that another bird is bullying her? Molting birds sometimes become targets while molting.

Sorry, I forgot to mention in my OP that she is one of the more dominant hens. Used to be clear cut dominant, but I think now it's between her and one of my other hens.

In other words, I don't think so. I've never seen her being picked on at all.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Molting in general might be making her feel uncomfortable, so even if no one is picking on her, she may not want to be as close to the others.

 

[Callender Girl]

Sometimes, there is just no clear-cut explanation. I have a coop with four 2-year-old chickens, all of whom have been together since they were days old. Recently, the Columbian Wyandotte has been reluctant to coop with the others. I have to trick her into returning every night.

Everyone looks healthy, molting (in that coop, at least) is over for the year and the rooster who used to overbreed her until Valentina had nearly no feathers on her back has calmed down. She just doesn't want to go in with the others, even though I don't see any evidence of bullying. Who knows?

Hope your girl decides to start cooping again.

 

[3KillerBs]

Can you confine her to the coop/run for a week or so to get one her to the roost instead of the porch?

 

[VinnyVincent]

Sometimes, there is just no clear-cut explanation. I have a coop with four 2-year-old chickens, all of whom have been together since they were days old. Recently, the Columbian Wyandotte has been reluctant to coop with the others. I have to trick her into returning every night.

Everyone looks healthy, molting (in that coop, at least) is over for the year and the rooster who used to overbreed her until Valentina had nearly no feathers on her back has calmed down. She just doesn't want to go in with the others, even though I don't see any evidence of bullying. Who knows?

Hope your girl decides to start cooping again.

Well at least I know it's not just me! lol...she's still at it. Every few nights she ends up in the coup for some reason. We are thinking about making her a hanging perch so that she can sleep out there out of the reach of some(obviously not all) predators.

Can you confine her to the coop/run for a week or so to get one her to the roost instead of the porch?

I can. They normally free range, but I have a small run. I was thinking about that since that's how I thought them to coop in the first place. I'll give that a shot for the next week and report back.

 

[Callender Girl]

I just kept enforcing the all-chickens-sleep-in-the-coop rule until my Wyandotte decided to let me win. She's absolutely back to "normal" now -- or as close as any of my pets get to that standard. And, I'm sure it was more about physically moving her into the coop at night than it was about many of the serious lectures I gave her about the dangers of sleeping outdoors!

Looking forward to hearing how it goes!