Only three of four hens roosting at night...

[jakmak71]

I have four hens, which are just starting to lay eggs. One of them, which is at the bottom of the pecking order, sleeps on the floor of the coop every night. We have a run attached to our coop, and we close the run door, but not the coop door. Would that be why she sleeps there ? (There is plenty of room on the perch)


I also want to know if I need to give them grit even though their floor is dirt, and they get outside just about everyday.

 

[sunflour]

1- perch issue: maybe the others push her off. I have only 6 hens with 2 large roosts, each is long enough to sleep all 6. But 1-2 sleep on a separate roost every night.
-have you seen the floor sleeper jump up on anything, maybe she can't?
2-grit issue: dirt is too small I think, get some grit, sold in bags for adult chickens, and mix some with their feed.

 

[newchic2013]

I also have 4 chics and the roost is plenty big but 3 of them squeeze in the coop door, facing out into the run and the 4th gets left in the back. I guess they just prefer overlooking the outside? I thought it was pretty strange myself.

 

[sunflour]

I also have 4 chics and the roost is plenty big but 3 of them squeeze in the coop door, facing out into the run and the 4th gets left in the back. I guess they just prefer overlooking the outside? I thought it was pretty strange myself.

Do you have a window in the coop. Mine seem to prefer the window view.

 

[jakmak71]

1- perch issue: maybe the others push her off. I have only 6 hens with 2 large roosts, each is long enough to sleep all 6. But 1-2 sleep on a separate roost every night.
-have you seen the floor sleeper jump up on anything, maybe she can't?
2-grit issue: dirt is too small I think, get some grit, sold in bags for adult chickens, and mix some with their feed.

I've watched them go in there at night, and she just goes straight to her corner of the coop. And she can definitely fly...I have seen her fly over a 4ft fence, and just flew up to their coop tonight.

I also haven't been giving them grit because they have been out there for 3 months now without any problems, but do you think I should just get some anyways ?

 

[newchic2013]

My coop does have 3 windows in it. So it isn't like they can't see what is going on. I think they just like to see if anyone is coming with food and want to be the first one there.

 

[sunflour]

I've watched them go in there at night, and she just goes straight to her corner of the coop. And she can definitely fly...I have seen her fly over a 4ft fence, and just flew up to their coop tonight.

I also haven't been giving them grit because they have been out there for 3 months now without any problems, but do you think I should just get some anyways ?

If the ground they are on doesn't offer grit, I would give it to them. They need it to digest bugs, greens. Even if you only feed them chicken feed, bet they do eat bugs that come into their area. Mine eat beetles, wasps, and probably critters I don't want to know about.