Strange/Erratic Behavior

[pulletkeeper]

My teens are throwing themselves against the inside of the coop. My 5 hens in the coop next to them are roosting quietly but the 13 born 3/5/10 are staging a riot. I went in their coop to find out why they were screaming and could not see anything wrong. I turned off the lights and it got louder in there. If anyone knows why they would do this please let me know. I am kind of worried that they will hurt themselves because they are being quite aggressive, enough to make me alarmed. Could it be the weather? We are expecting storms later.....

 

[Imp]

Just guessing, but are you sure there's not some predator in with them?

Are they new to the coop?

Imp

 

[chickenbottom]

i agree with the person above me make sure there isn't something in there with them. look top to bottom. Also if they are use to the lights they could be scared of the dark at first or they are cold. edited to add with their age they are most likely just worried about darkness. mine did that at first to.

 

[pulletkeeper]

I spent about 10 minutes in there with them and checked every nook and cranny. Could a mouse running on the outside of the coop cause them to stir?

 

[pulletkeeper]

Last night was their first night without the heat lamp and they didn't have a problem. I last checked on them about 11:30pm and then again around 4am and they were silent. I guess I could rig up a night light or just turn their heat lamp back on and raise it up a bit so it is not so hot in there.

 

[chickenbottom]

you could try that and see how they act. my babies were terrified at first but they got use to it.

 

[pulletkeeper]

Ok, this is just getting wierder. (More wierd?) Anyway I went back out there and checked the outside run just to make sure nothing was messing with the door trying to get in. Then I went inside the chicken house and turned on the lights. They were a little quieter until I turned on the lights and then they started going nuts again. I turned on the heat lamp, raised it about 2 feet, and then turned off the lights again. I will check on them later but will not turn on the lights because it seemed to stir them up again. I hope this is not some signal that the storms we are going to have will be bad

 

[chickenbottom]

just keep checking on them and see how they are thats all you can do

 

[nanawendy]

Maybe it's a ghost??

 

[pulletkeeper]

Quote:
Ooooh, maybe with the infrared heat lamp I could set up a camera and catch it on film!

It was kind of "hazy" in there but I just figured they had been in their dirt bath.......