My hens have tried to move out?!

[poiuytrewq]

Our hens are free range. One is ancient and three newer younger birds.
They have a little shed in the garden so at night they roost and we pop out at dark and shut the door...easy!
Or it was until they decided one night last week not to go inside! Every evening since we've had to do battle getting them inside.
Can't work out what's wrong.
It's secure. No mites as far as I know. I've run my hand under all perches and not got any blood which is how I was told to check.
It's been cleaned and disinfected, this made absolutely no difference.
Any ideas?

 

[JillA]

Smell of disinfectant? When mine are reluctant to go anywhere I bribe them with a small amount of soaked cat kibble - good source of protein and they love it. (Or mealworms yuk). Just take care not to get chicken flavour

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I would bet it is probably mites-can you get in there with a torch and look around the ends of the perches? Are they still laying in there? No sign of any rats?

 

[alfiesowner]

It could be other pests, not just mites but rats as the above said. Or there may be nothing there now but at some point a predator came a-looking and its spooked them. Maybe go back through some steps helping to establish the shed as their coop and safe spot, mixing it up inside may help to establish it as 'new' to them again too. Also they could be fighting - but usually it's only one or two hens that stay out of the coop not the whole bunch.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Thanks for the suggestions.
We only used disinfectant after this started happening thinking maybe if something had been in we could get rid of its smell.
I can try a torch at night yes- that's not a method i knew of. They are not laying in there no, but tbh they rarely do. they lay in my horses feed!!
Ive not seen any rats, when we first moved in last year we used to see them running along the stone wall into the field behind and have rat bait points. Also one of the dogs is a bit obsessive about rats so i *think she would have alerted us to them. Of course living on a farm there will be rats around but hopefully not in the actual garden!
We did loose a hen a week or so back and think it started then. The others went in one night as usual and one was missing.
Maybe i should move the house?

 

[alfiesowner]

Sounds like that's what may have started it. Do you know how you lost her? Some people recommend keeping the hens in the coop for a couple of days to get them used to it again. Or keep making them go into the coop every evening and after a week or so of that they should start going back on their own, if not then consider moving the shed and making it look a bit new.

 

[Dry Rot]

How do you feed the hens? I used to have self feeders and so had rats which also took the eggs. I started hand feeding what they would eat in a day and the rats have gone.

Is it possible your hens are laying in the shed and the rats have the eggs before you arrive?

If mites (or other beasties) the hens would be showing signs of irritation, I think. The cheapest cure for mites is white vinegar sprayed liberally on perches etc. with a knapsack sprayer. Get it from cartering suppliers. It is not expensive so really soak everything.

 

[poiuytrewq]

They lay everyday in a make shift nest in a barn where I keep my horses feed and hay. I don't know why but this particular batch of hens always has laid over there rather than in their own coop.
Feed wise they get a bit of layers pellets in a hopper thing in the garden but mostly they are in the grain store out on the farm yard helping themselves to corn!
We don't know what happened to the missing one no, she just didn't come back that evening. No sign or sounds of disturbance in the afternoon when we were around.
We had thought of keeping them shut in for a few days but figured best to wait until it's not so warm?

 

[MissTyc]

One summer mine moved out and I think they just didn't want to go back to bed when it was too warm outside and not pitch black yet. It came to a point where they sat in trees to escape me and I had to leave them out. Went to check on them at about midnight because I'm a big softie and they were all sitting in their barn fast asleep on their perches. Thankfully without fixes or rats! After that we gave them a few extra hours and they went to bed nicely again.

(mine laid all over the place in summer. Other seasons they only laid in their best boxes!)