Why are my chickens staying in their coop?

[ChickensAreMyLove]

I have 9 healthy EE hens, and all of them are staying in their coop only coming out for water and food. I let them out into their closed off area and gave them treats, but as soon as they ate them all they all went back into their coop. They are all done molting except for Willow who was a late boomer I guess. Shadow, one of my chickens died Dec 28 and my other chickens started staying in their run not their coop, but that was the only bizarre behaver I saw from them till now. She did get killed by a predator so I have been wondering if he has been coming back to see if there is a other chickens out he can nab. They have not been laying well so I don't think they are broody and they have not been in the egg boxes. Most of them were on their roost but two of them were scratching in the shavings. It could be the fire works from last night on New Years but they did not act like this last year. Please help me I am so stumped.

 

[MadamContrary]

Predator attacks can be traumatic for chickens. What kind of predator? If it's still sniffing around your birds may be on high alert now.

 

[ChickensAreMyLove]

We are not completely sure. We have lots of hawks and foxes in our area.

 

[MadamContrary]

We are not completely sure. We have lots of hawks and foxes in our area.

A cheap trail cam or coop cam might help you figure out what's bothering them. I'd give them a few days and then start tossing out some treats while staying to supervise to make them feel safer.

 

[springvalley123]

Mine often choose to hang out in their roost, or the pen in general. During or after molting, or the predator scare, or the weather. Also, the others stay close by while one of them is in the nestbox. As for broody, the individual will stop laying while it is being broody.

 

[ChickensAreMyLove]

We have a backdoor camera that can see the chicken coop and I have looked through most of the footage and there does not seem to be anything bothering them. The chickens have gotten used to the hawks flying around because they see them everyday but are still very cautious of them so I don't think it could be the hawks.

 

[Mrs. K]

What does your run look like? Might add some clutter, might rearrange it. I think I would chase them out and lock them out for a bit.

Chickens are notional, they will do things exactly the same way... and then change.

Mrs K

 

[BDutch]

We have a backdoor camera that can see the chicken coop and I have looked through most of the footage and there does not seem to be anything bothering them. The chickens have gotten used to the hawks flying around because they see them everyday but are still very cautious of them so I don't think it could be the hawks.

Maybe they got afraid of the haws after seeing an attack on their sister?

Can you put a tarp over the run? That way they can feel safe again if it was a hawk.

Check the fence very thorough for other trespassing. Hoe high is the fence? Did you make skirts with hardware cloth? Or how deep down in the ground did you make the hwc?

My chickens stay more inside too after encounters or spotting predators.

 

[Fl Granny17]

I have 9 healthy EE hens, and all of them are staying in their coop only coming out for water and food. I let them out into their closed off area and gave them treats, but as soon as they ate them all they all went back into their coop. They are all done molting except for Willow who was a late boomer I guess. Shadow, one of my chickens died Dec 28 and my other chickens started staying in their run not their coop, but that was the only bizarre behaver I saw from them till now. She did get killed by a predator so I have been wondering if he has been coming back to see if there is a other chickens out he can nab. They have not been laying well so I don't think they are broody and they have not been in the egg boxes. Most of them were on their roost but two of them were scratching in the shavings. It could be the fire works from last night on New Years but they did not act like this last year. Please help me I am so stumped.

They have probably just naturally slacked off of egg production over winter to give their bodies a chance to recover nutrients. This happened to me for the first time here in north Fl. I had Rhode Island reds in Tx and they never slowed down on laying throughout the year. I had 3 chickens taken by a neighbor dog and one by a hawk and it does seem to stir them up for a few days but then they go back to normal. Try not to stress ... chickens have been domesticated for a long time and as long as they are safe and have a clean coop they will do what they naturally do.