The usually don't, but I did once have a bantam pullet (Old English Game Bantam) go broody at 21 weeks--she started laying at 19 weeks, laid one egg each day for 13 days, and went broody.
So I thought it was worth checking, just in case
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Thanks! I’ll keep an eye for that too.
@CluckerFamily asks a very pertinent question here. How many chickens do you have, and how much roosting space do you have in feet? This sounds to me as if there is not enough space for this hen to roost comfortably. There may be enough room for all the chickens to actually fit side by side, but is there room for them to shuffle and move around and flutter as they get settled? Some hens require a little more space than others. It's as if they are little kids complaining, "Mom, he's touching me! Well she's breathing on me!" Then there's arguments about who sits where. There's a lot of politics in a hen house!
Her and another seem to be the last ones in the coop. So she may just not be able to see where everything is. But I’ll be checking for mites and live just to be on the safe side.
Hahaha. I can so hear my girls saying these things. Anyway, yes there is enough room for them to move around in the roosting bars. Enough for them to be able to do the hokie pokie and turn themselves around.@CluckerFamily asks a very pertinent question here. How many chickens do you have, and how much roosting space do you have in feet? This sounds to me as if there is not enough space for this hen to roost comfortably. There may be enough room for all the chickens to actually fit side by side, but is there room for them to shuffle and move around and flutter as they get settled? Some hens require a little more space than others. It's as if they are little kids complaining, "Mom, he's touching me! Well she's breathing on me!" Then there's arguments about who sits where. There's a lot of politics in a hen house!
If she and the other hen are the last ones in, they probably are at the bottom of the pecking order and all the good spots are taken. There might be room for them but they might not be able to get to those spots without having to climb over more senior or dominant hens, which those hens won't allow. I have seen this happen in my own coop. We had to install additional roosts, even though technically there was adequate space for everyone.
Lol, now you made me laugh!
I think that if room is not an issue on the roost then you need to rule out the mites as I said, then if she is a heavier girl like my Orpingtons who also like to drag around getting into the coop at night until the last minute then their big butts don’t have enough umph to want to hump it up onto the roost properly sometimes is I have a very clean roost board and poop boards I have caught them sleeping on the poop boards beneath the other lighter weight girls. If I hadn’t moved them they would have gotten pooped on at night. So when I clean things spotless I leave my battery operated coop light on so that they can see to get all the way on top and bait it with something. Nothing like a little food for the piglets to get them to go where you want them to land! Lol! But not often needed. I bet it’s just the light more than anything hopefully. I hope it’s not mites. Hate those things.
This^^^
