Two hens won’t go outside

[HardinRanch]

Two of my hens are behaving weirdly. They’re constantly trying to sit in the same nesting box, or stay on the roost during the day and won’t go out to the yard with other chickens. I’m not certain whether they’re still laying, likely no. They’re not really broody either, because at night, they will go back up the roost with rest of the flock. They seem to be eating/drinking normally. It’s almost like they’re scared of the outside. There hasn’t been any attacks lately so I don’t know what they’d be afraid of.

They’re about two years old. One of them is Rhode Island Red, who never gone broody since we’ve gotten her. Other is a Bantam and did go broody and raised a couple of groups of chicks/ducklings last year. Haven’t gone full broody yet this year.

I haven’t gone as far as trying to broody break yet. I’ve forced them out into the chicken run for now to start. (Can’t kick them out to the yard and block the chicken coop since other hens still need to access it for laying).

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

When did they last lay eggs?

 

[HardinRanch]

When did they last lay eggs?

It’s a bit hard to tell since we’re not always around and the egg color of the Bantam is brown like the rest. We do have a new chick group from Feb with a Bantam offspring so at least Feb for her. RIR’s egg is a bit lighter and I don’t remember when was the last time I saw her egg.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

How long have they been acting like this? Are they showing any signs of illness? A sick chicken will sometimes hang out in the coop and be less inclined to run around outside doing chicken things

 

[HardinRanch]

How long have they been acting like this? Are they showing any signs of illness? A sick chicken will sometimes hang out in the coop and be less inclined to run around outside doing chicken things

Since Jan/Feb probably. I’m not noticing anything obvious about sickness. Perhaps they need to be dewormed again?

 

[HardinRanch]

They enjoyed some dust bath in the chicken run today and Bantam laid an egg. I guess I’ll see if forcing them be out in the run for a couple of days help.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I wish i had some good advice for you. Are they getting picked on out in the run?

 

[HardinRanch]

I wish i had some good advice for you. Are they getting picked on out in the run?

I don’t think so. The flock has gotten alone fine. The RIR does duck down for breeding every time the rooster gets near, and her shoulders have slight signs of mounting damage. Could potentially be overbreeding? The flock used to be larger but down to 6 hens and a rooster for overwinter. They all roost on the top roost together so I haven’t noticed any signs of them being low on the pecking order. The RIR was actually pretty close to our RIR rooster.

Hopefully being forced being outside a few days helps I guess.

 

[HardinRanch]

They’re out in the yard today on their own with the rest for the first time in weeks. So all it took was forced being outside for a day I guess.

They’re still standing together and slightly more cautious and looking around. But at least they’re out.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don't have roosters so I'm not sure if that's a factor but it definitely could be. Here is a thread that discusses it which might be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-to-hen-ratio.1465686/#post-24415230