Strange Chickens

[thistlebloom]

I notice when my hens are let out in the yard they stay outside a lot longer than when they are confined to their pen.

Also it's interesting that some peoples chickens are attracted to going into the coop when there's a light on in there. My last batch of girls had the opposite reaction. I installed a light in the fall and they started hanging out under the coop. I guess it was all too confusing for them.

aaarrrgghhh....my internet keeps dropping me mid post!

 

[Smart Red]

Yea! Problem solved!

 

[catjac1975]

Why not put the snack inside the house? At least for a while.

 

[bj taylor]

my chickens go in pretty early. I have a few who linger around until later, waiting for the others to settle. they're bullied some & want to avoid the conflict. I have one hen who is terrified of the roosters & refuses to sleep in the coop. she's one of my originals & she sleeps in her very own special place. on bad weather days (precipitating), I open the barn door so the chickens can move around without being in the weather. they take full advantage of that, but they won't go in the coop except to lay eggs or sleep.

 

[catjac1975]

Rooster soup!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Rooster soup!

Can't argue with that suggestion! All of our hens were terrified of our Copper Maran rooster, Buck. We made rooster soup out of him and replaced him with his son, Peep/Chuck/Peep-Chuck. (We mostly call he Peep, but we use other names. ) All seems fine now, weird...

 

[catjac1975]

We got rid of all of our Welsummer roosters for their over mating techniques. Often 2-3 roosters ganging up on one little hen. Our original plan was to hatch some but I do not like the breed enough to continue with them.

 

[897tgigvib]

Hmmm, could there be something outside that they like? Maybe grubs or worms?

 

[HotPepperQueen]

I've noticed with my birds that when the days were getting shorter, the birds started to accidentally stay out until it was too late to see back to the coop. I put a low wattage light in there until they all got settled and then I turned it off. They eventually learned to go in early.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

I figured it out. It wasn't the fact that the heat lamps were in there, I was giving them their snack too late in the evening. Now that the days are getting a little longer, I can feed them around 4:30 and they are in by dark. I'd know if there were critters hanging out in there because I'm out checking on them 3 or 4 times a day. Everything is back to normal!