Why is she not going in the coop?

[dodgewoman]

I have a wayward chicken!

A little background that may be relevant. I had two partridge rocks. They stuck together. A lot. Then on day bam one got taken/eaten by something. The other hung around the flock but always hung back. Its been since july that her sister was lost. Up until the past two weeks everything was normal. Now we have noticed she keeps getting forgoten. We thought it was a fluke but nope. If they are free ranging for the day she won't come back home and roosts some where in the woods. She has come back to the coop in the morning. If they are penned up for the day she won't go inside but stays out in the run! Usually under the coop but tonight she was out on the perch so I was able to scoop her up and throw her in the coop. I don't get it. She doesn't seem to be getting picked on at all. More ignored if anything. I'm worried. She can't stay out by herself at night it's getting cold here and she will freeze to death! Is there anything I can do? I don't want to loose another chicken just because she's being stubborn!

 

[MimiChick]

First, she won't freeze to death. So don't worry about that. She's got a nice little down coat on to keep her warm. And chickens can do just fine in very cold temperatures.
The more worrisome issue of her being out at night is predators. So you really need to retrain her to go in at night. The best way I've heard for that is basically to restrict her to the coop for a week. But since she also probably needs to reintegrate with the rest of the flock you may need to restrict all of them together for a while.
She's lost her primary flock mate and probably ended up at the bottom of the pecking order. She'll be okay. But if you can get her more fully integrated with the rest of the flock by making them all stay in one place together, I think it would help the problem.
Good luck.

 

[joelman7]

shes looking for her sister or check her eyes are they white if yes shes blind

 

[dodgewoman]

Thank you for letting me know she won't freeze to death. This is my first go about with chickens. I'm used to my parrots who would freeze to death

She probably is looking for her sister, poor thing. The last two days I have kept them in the run so I will continue to do this and make sure I physically put her in the coop for the night. I will do this for awhile and hope it helps! Thanks.