Why are chickens so dumb?

[cochicks]

It's been cold here lately. Temps drop below zero every night. The last couple nights my girls have been perched in their run when I've gone down to close up the coop. They were sitting there in the wind shivering. I moved them inside of course. Today I added fresh litter and DE and made sure everything was cleaned well, but they did it again tonight! Ridiculous.

 

[Teach97]

sounds to me like they are fairly bright..they got you to visit them in the cold and tuck them in

 

[Woods_Woman]

LOL..Personally I think some are smarter then others.

 

[emys]

Are you sure nothing is bothering them in the coop? Could be anything, lice, mites, mice, raccoons scratching around the outside at night?

 

[cochicks]

The coop is only two weeks old, and it is very clean. It is draft free, and we live in a dry climate. They have no problem going in there to lay eggs.

 

[emys]

In general I think chickens do have reasons for sudden behavior changes.

I just took a look at your coop and my theory is that it is quite possible something spooked them at night such as a cat, opossum or raccoon walking around on the coop roof trying to figure out how to get in. The chickens would have seen and heard the would-be-intruder through your roof panels. Such an event might have been enough to convince them they would be better off roosting elsewhere...they will probably settle down again as long as it isn't a nightly event.

You could run an electric wire all along the edge of the roof to prevent any visiting on the roof.


(edited to correct better "off", not "of")

 

[cochicks]

I didn't think about something on the roof. There is hardware cloth over the top of the hen house and under the roof, so nothing could get in, but you are right about something maybe spooking them.

 

[emys]

You could even try barb wire up there - just wouldn't look as nice as electrified strand.

 

[matimeo]

Chickens are creatures of habit. For the longest time one of my chickens would roost on top of the run instead of going in the coop with the rest of the chickens. I had to block access for a couple of weeks before she got the hang of going in with the others. I went out to observe once and I think she was just always the last to go in, and she saw the other chickens walk by inside the run and she would jump on top instead of going around. Once she did it once, it seemed like she was in the habit, no matter how many times I went out to move her back into the coop.

 

[cochicks]

They went in fine tonight. I've done nothing different. I just don't get it.