Strange behaviour

[judd26]

2 of my 4 girls have stopped coming out of their bed and going down for food and drink, and have stopped laying, i put them down with food and water which they eat and drink ok, but the minute i open the coop door, they rush straight back up again

 

[junebuggena]

By bed, do you mean the nest boxes? Generally, hens should be sleeping on the roosts, not in the nest boxes. Nest boxes are for laying eggs, not sleeping. It's a bad habit that will lead to some very poop-covered (gross) eggs in the morning.
Could they be broody?

 

[judd26]

They sit in the nest box 24/7 if i let them, its very strange, they used to be more sociable like the other 2 and lay daily, so i dont know what has happened, they eat and drink when i physically move them and shut the door to stop them going back up

 

[keesmom]

Do they puff up and yell at you? They sound broody.

 

[judd26]

No, they seem to moan and complain that I have disturbed them, but they need to eat and drink, 1 of them has a lot of feathers coming out

 

[junebuggena]

Sounds like they are broody.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I agree, they sound broody. I remove my broody hens once a day from the nestbox so as to remind them to eat and drink.

 

[judd26]

I take them out a number of times a day, otherwise they wouldn't eat or drink, they seem quite thin now and are losing feathers, I don't know what to do

 

[junebuggena]

They are broody. To break them from being broody, put them in an elevated wire crate with food and water, but no bedding for a few days. Then let them out. If they head straight for the nest again, put them back in. Keep letting them out once a day. When they no longer go for the nest, you have successfully stopped the broodiness. If it's extremely hot, keeping a fan on them will help.

 

[judd26]

Being fairly new to this I am a bit confused as to what you mean when you say elevated wine crate, I also only have 1 chicken house with 4 chickens, advice is very much appreciated