Roosting all damn day!

[Vannahen]

Hi everyone, I have 3 year old hens, no roo. Almost all of them, I have 5 have been staying in their house all day, not accessing the run, and staying on their roosts, all day! But will Come down for treats. It’s in single digits here, lots of snow, no predators have scared them as I can see If any prints around coop. I will say the other day I did see my 2 sweet hens did gang up on my big buff Cochin whom normally is top dog or one of them. she did not back down and for the first time in 3 years I saw them use their wings and feet in a fight! She did not back down! I feel I have had 0 scuffles in my flock. No blood shed or bullying that I have ever seen. Are they bored? Is that why they are fighting? It’s been single digits and even negative degrees here this last week. My question is, why are almost all of them staying up on their roosts every time I go out to check waters and eggs? I am cleaning out and shoveling out the coop tomorrow, new sand and new straw, I am hoping that will distract them and get them on to something new and different. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Callender Girl]

I would blame cabin fever. It's been double-digit below zero here, and even when I opened the coop doors, few of the girls in any of the coops came out. In my avatar coop, everybody has been on the roosts all day long -- although a few have decided to provide an occasional egg.

Also, the six of them have grown up together with only Lottie, the bottom hen in the pecking order, ever getting pecked or bullied. Suddenly, last week it looked like a bloodbath in there. Cordelia, who had always been one of the top hens, was missing feathers and had a wound at the base of where those feathers should have been.

It warmed up to 20 degrees yesterday and the girls finally relented and came out in the snow and snuggled under the coop in the (still frozen) dirt. I'm hoping that -- along with the addition of "fun" food, like a hanging head of cabbage and a few handful of scratch dropped into the litter on the floor -- will break up the boredom.

Good luck with your girls!

 

[Vannahen]

I would blame cabin fever. It's been double-digit below zero here, and even when I opened the coop doors, few of the girls in any of the coops came out. In my avatar coop, everybody has been on the roosts all day long -- although a few have decided to provide an occasional egg.

Also, the six of them have grown up together with only Lottie, the bottom hen in the pecking order, ever getting pecked or bullied. Suddenly, last week it looked like a bloodbath in there. Cordelia, who had always been one of the top hens, was missing feathers and had a wound at the base of where those feathers should have been.

It warmed up to 20 degrees yesterday and the girls finally relented and came out in the snow and snuggled under the coop in the (still frozen) dirt. I'm hoping that -- along with the addition of "fun" food, like a hanging head of cabbage and a few handful of scratch dropped into the litter on the floor -- will break up the boredom.

Good luck with your girls!

Thanks so much! Ugh! I can’t stand seeing my girls fight! Just when you think you have a perfect coop!
I am a new hen mom, so I’m just not used to it yet, I suppose. It is warming up here as well and will be warmer today! I am looking forward to spring, especially for my girlies!