stuck: hen won't get down from roost or use ramps

[paigecamille]

Hello all! This is my first BYC post. We got our first chickens in March and have been really enjoying our girls and learning a lot!

Some background on our situation:
We have 4 hens: one RIR, one leghorn, one golden sexlink, and one barnevelder. They free roam in our backyard during the day and are secured in their coop/run at night. Initially we just had the RIR and leghorn, and we recently introduced the sexlink and barnevelder into the flock. They are all around laying age, but so far just the RIR and sexlink are laying. The RIR is in charge but is not aggressive at all and will only occasionally peck at the barnevelder, who seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order. Everyone gets along pretty well.
Our coop is raised above the ground by about two feet, and the chickens access it via a ramp inside the run. From the coop floor, we have two ramps for the chickens to get up to the top roosts, which are maybe 4 feet from the coop floor. There are also two lower roosts in front of the nest boxes that they can use to jump/fly to the top roost. Their food is inside the coop near the floor, and their water is outside in the run (will also be inside the coop in winter).

Here's the problem:
All the girls figured out the roosts and ramps within a week or so and use them with ease, except the barnevelder. She figured out how to get up to the top roost, but can't seem to get down. I've tried everything- coaxing her with food, helping her use the ramp one step at a time, pushing her off to get her to fly, having the sexlink demonstrate how to get down right in front of her, EVERYTHING. It's been 3 weeks, and she still won't come off the roost by herself. She seems to WANT to get down, and moves around and looks down like she's going to try, but doesn't. Before today, the longest I've left her up is until around 5 pm, and then I help her off so she can eat and drink because its so hot outside. At around 8pm without fail, she gets back up there. If she is on the coop floor, she won't go down the ramp into the run on her own either. She seems to be just fine once she's down, free roaming and hanging out with the other ladies. She's not broody because she isn't even laying yet, and doesn't seem sick in any way. She is very submissive to the other hens and seems scared of them sometimes even though they don't really mess with her.
We live in Texas and I'm worried about just leaving her up there all day because we have a clear roof over the coop and she isn't always in complete shade. We have to go out of town this weekend for a few days and I fear she is just going to sit up there and bake until she dies I left her up there all day today and she never got down. She will be up there all night too. I don't want to be cruel, but I thought maybe a bit of tough love was in order. I'm hoping I can trust in the fact that she will manage to get down once she is hungry/thirsty enough, but she seems so scared to get down I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't.

What should we do? Please help! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[chooks4life]

Hello and

When a submissive bird remains on the perch it is often a case of bullying. You may not be seeing all that goes on with your birds, some chooks will harass others into remaining on the perch and you have to be there to catch them at it.

It's also a possibility that she has some minor injury or defect and it hurts her to angle her body to walk down a ramp or jump down.

Those are the two most likely reasons she is doing this, by far, but it may be something else.

It's also possible she's just a nervous wreck and mentally unable to cope with the others, or that she has utterly no confidence in her ability to land safely and unharmed possibly because of a previous mistake that hurt her. Some other probably (but not necessarily) distant possibilities are that she has epilepsy or experiences seizures for whatever reason and the others assault her while this happens, and you've just not yet seen it happen, or she may be aware of a burgeoning health failure and so are the others and she knows when it gets too bad she will be very vulnerable to attack from them or from predators, and unable to protect herself.

If she uses the ramps to get up there, and doesn't jump and fly, you can remove the ramps and hope the other hens learn to get up there unassisted, in order to prevent her baking in the heat. Asides from that, you could possibly cage her in a separate small run beside the others while you're away to keep her safe.

Best wishes.

 

[tridentk9]

She goes up but not down the ramps? Funny- I have the same problem with stairs because of vertigo. I have no idea how you would test depth perception, eye sight or for vertigo in a chicken!

 

[paigecamille]

Thank you for your reply! From what you said, I think she is probably just really sensitive to bullying. I have seen the other girls peck at her occasionally, but she's not missing any feathers and they let her eat with them out of the same feeder. At the place we got her from, she was in the corner with a bunch of other chickens attacking her. We felt bad so we took her, but I guess more than just being at the bottom of the pecking order that could have also been an indication of some sort of illness or injury. Removing the ramps would be difficult, so I think while we're gone I'll pen her in a separate part of the run under cover with her own food and water so she doesn't fry, and hope that she remains healthy and gets some confidence

 

[paigecamille]

tridentk9- Yes! I watched her climb up the ramps with ease, but she will not go down for anything. I feel bad for her because I don't like heights and can understand how going up is always easier than getting down, but I just wish she didn't feel it was necessary to get up there in the first place. She can see the treats I hold in front of her, but maybe she does have bad depth perception. She seems really unsure of herself when I try to guide her down the ramp- super wobbly and flappy. And I know she has fallen from the top roost to the floor rather ungracefully, so she may be bruised, sore, and discouraged from that. Poor girl

 

[chooks4life]

She goes up but not down the ramps? Funny- I have the same problem with stairs because of vertigo. I have no idea how you would test depth perception, eye sight or for vertigo in a chicken!

There are a good few threads on this forum about lack of depth perception in chickens, it does happen for various reasons including genetic faults, injury and disease. It's not uncommon, so you may be right, she may have this issue.

Thank you for your reply! From what you said, I think she is probably just really sensitive to bullying. I have seen the other girls peck at her occasionally, but she's not missing any feathers and they let her eat with them out of the same feeder. At the place we got her from, she was in the corner with a bunch of other chickens attacking her. We felt bad so we took her, but I guess more than just being at the bottom of the pecking order that could have also been an indication of some sort of illness or injury. Removing the ramps would be difficult, so I think while we're gone I'll pen her in a separate part of the run under cover with her own food and water so she doesn't fry, and hope that she remains healthy and gets some confidence

That's interesting, I was thinking before, the chances are pretty good she was bullied severely before you got her. They can permanently lose social confidence.

It could be an indication of illness or injury, she's probably a prime candidate for some mystery ailment down the track, but hopefully not, and at least with you she'll have a good life first.

Is she doing anything before she's pecked on? Anything strange or unusual? When she drinks or eats, is it precise and neat or does she slam her beak into the food and water? Chickens with perfect sight but depth perception issues make strange errors.

It does sound to me like she needs to become a ground chicken, I suspect she's being wise in not moving down, if she is so unable to control her descent or regulate it safely she is at risk of seriously harming herself sooner or later. Her fear of predation is driving her up onto the perches so giving her a secure, fairly secluded little nesting area can soothe that fear while you cage her.

Best wishes.

 

[paigecamille]

Is she doing anything before she's pecked on? Anything strange or unusual? When she drinks or eats, is it precise and neat or does she slam her beak into the food and water? Chickens with perfect sight but depth perception issues make strange errors.

As a matter of fact, she does slam her beak into the food, which sends it scattering everywhere. I just thought she was ravenous and extra enthusiastic about eating haha. AND, I've seen her miss the water nipple when trying to drink several times- I thought she just hadn't figured it out at first but she still does it.

I don't know if this matters but her tail curves down instead of up. It doesn't bother her when I touch it, and her vent looks great. Her feathers just seem to naturally curve downward- I wonder if its all part of some genetic anomaly or something.

The only time the other girls peck her is occasionally when I'm giving them treats, but its usually only a few pecks before they leave her alone and let her eat with them. The leghorn never pecks her. They all hang out next to each other in the yard and seem to be friends for the most part I think you're right, it would be best to make her separate accommodations on the ground.

It all makes so much sense now, thank you!!!

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, sounds like it's a depth perception problem. Most chooks with that issue soon enough learn to sleep on the floor. I've not yet seen/heard of a case where it's not permanent. It is pretty much always linked to something debilitating and eventually fatal but she may have some good happy years left to her.

Her tail curving down could be normal if she was a Langshan or another bob-tailed breed, or had some Rumpless genes, but if you can post a pic of her we'll know, most likely. On a side note, what Americans call Black Australorp is what we Aussies call Langshan and what Aussies call Black Australorp, Americans call Langshan, so it can get very confusing if you don't look at both breeds. Personally I will go with the Aussie definition of B. Aus. Orps since we developed that breed.

Anyway, best wishes with her.

 

[paigecamille]

Here's our special little barnevelder

So, I got her down from the roost this morning and left her on the floor of the coop to eat. I came back a few hours later, and she was outside in the yard! For the first time, she used the ramp to get from the coop into the run all by herself!

I think now rather than making her a separate area in the run, we will just block off the ramps up to the top roost so she can't get up there. The others should be able to get up using the lower roost pegs.

 

[evemfoster]

I have a red sex link that does the same thing.

My hen reminded me that Dad had one like it when i was a kid, years and years ago. So i just changed the angle on all the roosts the way Dad did. Dad put the roosts at a angle one end lower than the other so that the hen could walk to the lower end of the roost and cross to the top of the high end of the next roost using the 2x4 the roosts were hung from. That way she would just walk herself down to the floor. It takes a little experimenting to figure out how close to the floor the lowest roost needs to be. And after a while all the other chickens start walking down the roosts all in a row like ducklings. Its kind of amusing to watch.

The ramp we just made a little longer so that the angle wasn't as steep.