Sudden change of behavior in 5 month old pullet

[SueSteeves]

Hey Everyone!

I have a 5 month old black frizzle cochin bantam Dolly who has been driving me up a wall today! So the deal is this, all of a sudden she has become very restless and vocal. She and her 2 sisters are in their coop at night, then in the morning I take them from their coop to their day run (right now a large dog kennel on the grass that I move to a different location each day) then when I am done with work I let them free range around the yard for awhile until it gets dark and they put themselves to bed. This has been working very well while I finish up their perm. run 3 ft high, 3 ft wide, 8 feet long. But today she has been pacing the sides of the kennel making a racket while her sisters are nice and quiet just snacking and napping on the roosting pole. She will not settle down for more than a few minutes. I tried putting a tarp over most of it to reduce anything that might be riling her up, but has not worked. It is not crowing loud, but enough to bug me and my neighbors.

Any ideas? Is she just never going to be happy & quiet unless she is free ranging?

If she can't keep it down then I will have to rehome her which would be a bummer.

Thanks!

Sue

 

[Happy Chooks]

Restless and vocal........sounds like she's approaching point of lay. You better hurry up with their coop!

 

[SueSteeves]

Coop is done, just making a bigger rum for them to hang out in during the day. I added some nice soft grass hay to the nest boxes in case they are going to start to lay soon. She was doing it again today, but as soon as she was allowed to free range she quieted down, maybe she is just trying to annoy me into letting her out

?

 

[azygous]

Sounds to me like she's got an egg in the chute.