Hi, Wondering if anyone can shed some light on our Silkie/Sussex bantams behaviour, We've had her for about 18 months and got both her and her sister at POL, this last week she's started roosting outside at night, finding a branch or perch in the run to settle for the night, her sister and the 4 ex-bats are all going in at night but she just isn't interested, she's started molting and anyone in Britain will know the Weather has definitely got cooler this past week or so, we've been putting her in the coop and she stays put for the night but should we be worried, is there any reason she doesn't want to go in, we're just a bit bemused really! Thanks Rach
Do they all have enough space? If she feels over crowded she might look for somewhere else to roost. Is it possible they are picking on her? Sometimes hens are mean on the roosts and she might not feel safe (over crowding can also cause this) Or, perhaps she is just being odd and making odd choices. You could try locking her in for a few days so she has to go to bed on the roost and once she has a new routine hopefully she will stick to it.
They have plenty of room, we use 2 converted Rabbit hutches with nest boxes for 6 chickens, all 6 would comfortably fit in one, Her and the other bantam pretty much have the roost to themselves, the ex-bats have never seem to taken to roosting. She's just come out of being broody (6 weeks in total?!?!?) so she's spent plenty of time in the coop, we've not seen any evidence of her being picked on, if anything it's the other bantam that get's it, she seems to just antagonise they big girls?!?! hmmm... we might just have to keep a closer eye on her, make sure there's nothing untoward going on in the flock, hope not, I don' want an unhappy chicken Thanks for the comments, certainly a few points for us to consider Rach x
