Strange Chickens

[Just-Moxie]

Hi dew! Great to hear you got your chicken drama figured out. Chickens are strange critters.
I got all of mine used to a schedule. Feed in the morning when I let them out....treats and forage greens during the day. Fermented feed for supper at 4pm, or depending on when the sun is setting. They seem to want to eat, (and the pecking order determines how long it takes), drink their water, then go find their fave spots on the roosts. I have noticed they all are allowed to feed accordingly. Main hens first, with their main rooster. He keeps the rest away while they eat. Then come the secondary flock...the Jr rooster and his pullets. After they finish, then the one lone cockerel. He is chased off until everyone is fed and perched. Then, he eats and drinks, and finds his one spot. I usually get out there after they are all settled. last night, I fed them turnips and greens so late that I thought they'd be full on it. Nope. I went out at 520 to lock them up...and they were waiting for feed.
Okay, so I gave them some dry feed. You would have thought they were starving....with their full crops.
They all ate, did their routine, and went to bed. Lesson learned.
I'll just be adjusting their evening meal a little later as the days lengthen.

 

[cambriagardener]

There are poultry mites and ticks that hide in cracks of the coop and only come out at night. To check for these, go out with a flashlight and check the inside of the coop and the hens. See if these critters are keeping your hens up at night.

 

[so lucky]

One of my pullets didn't come to roost with the others last evening. DH locked them up for me because I was at the ER with Mom. He went out again after dark and couldn't find the chicken. I got home about 10:30 and he told me about it. I went out with a flashlight and found her "roosting" on a lawn chair near the coop. That was the closest and highest she could get, I guess. I just picked her up and put her in the coop. She didn't say where she had been, and I didn't ask.

 

[catjac1975]

I have an old Buff Orpington trying to do the same thing. I found her crouched on the soil that she had cleared of snow planning to stay out all night in 9 degree weather. She is the last Buff. I always figure they are tired of the roosters bothering them. I keep picking her up and bringing her inside. Surely she will be eaten if I fail to find her.