Two hens won’t go outside

[ChickNanny13]

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.

I'm guessing something's out there that has them on edge,

 

[orelsi]

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).

I noticed similar behavior in one of my hens when she had leg mites. The nasty buggers that burrow under the scales and make them look raised. I noticed she did not want to go outside and preferred to stay in the coop all day, even refused standing up. Check their legs. If there are raised scales (you will notice it easily) wash the feet, dry them and put a ton of petroleum jelly/vaseline over the leg/fingers, repeat 3 or 4 days.

My only other thought is that they being broody.

 

[HardinRanch]

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

I noticed the Bantam also ducks when the rooster gets near. On closer look, its back is torn open by the rooster spurs. So it’s very likely overbreeding related issue. I’m not sure on chicken jacket, but definitely trimming the spurs this weekend.