Possible urban predators?

[sugarhousehens]

Tonight I went out to gather eggs after our sunday dinner and our hen 'Georgia' shown below was nesting on the eggs well after bed-time (all other hens were roosted). Our hens have their favorite nesting box and so we had 5 eggs that Georgia was on. It took some effort to have her get off those eggs and go to bed. I turned off the light and sent them all back to bed. I went back to check on them an hour or so afterwards flipped on the light, and now she was sitting at the entrance into the coop rather than on the roost. This is the first time I have ever seen this and am curious if others have come across this same thing and what y'alls thoughts are. We did have rats a few months ago but haven't had any trip our traps lately. Is she truly on-guard or is it just her way of rebelling?

 

[upcdayz]

It sounds like one of two things. 1) she's broody, or 2) she got kicked off the roost by the other birds. How long has she been sitting on eggs?

 

[sugarhousehens]

They are coming up on their 1 year mark in April. I don't know when she began sitting on the eggs today. They head in to the coop around 7pm and roost shortly thereafter. I would guess from 7pm until I went out back around 10pm. I always check on the hens gather the eggs and make sure everything is safe every night. This is the second time I have seen her on the eggs after dark.

 

[sugarhousehens]

To answer your other question...she is our biggest bird and definitely runs the show (she isn't the one that picks on the smaller hens but she will push the others around). More intimidating than violent I guess.

 

[JenellYB]

Sounds like she's thinking about the broody idea.
Another throught...check her feet, could they be sore, the roost irritating them?

 

[Mattemma]

You are lucky if she is broody. I have been trying to get one of mine to sit on eggs.