# Weird chickens



## jessc0544 (Jun 22, 2013)

I have 5 chickens who free range all the time and then at night, right before it gets dark they ALWAYS go up to their coop to roost. Tonight when I got home from work to lock them up, they weren't there! I panicked at first but then found them in the yard all huddled together, why in the world were they in the middle of the yard?? Has anyone ever experienced their chickens not returning to their home at night? Was there possibly a critter in their house? There were eggs still in their boxes, untouched.


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## LittleWings (Jul 15, 2013)

I'm with you. It sounds like something scared them away from the coop. Did they go in last night ok?


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## jessc0544 (Jun 22, 2013)

Yeah! They were already in when I got home! I'm just glad they got out and didn't get hurt!


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## soratosjc (Jul 8, 2013)

Sometimes darkness creeps up on them real fast and they can't find their way in after dusk. I have experienced that my girls are sometimes having so much fun out and about that they lose track of time and get caught out after dusk. The experience night blindness and can't find their way home. I have to place them into their roosts! Even putting them near the coop doesn't work! Silly birds.


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## DrakeDavis (Nov 25, 2013)

My girls did that once. Scared me almost to death when I got home after dark one night and the ladies were no where to be found. I grabbed a flash light and found the three of them huddled together on a planter box far away from their coop. I went back to the coop to investigate, there on the floor, next to the ramp that leads up to their roost lay my dogs coat. Haha! Recently It had been cold, I decided to put the dog's coat on her before I left in the morning. Apparently she got too hot and took it off, either in the coop or drug it in! Haha! The ladies are pretty smart, if they are avoiding a place that they generally don't avoid, it's time to thoroughly investigate. I'm glad to hear your girls are back in their coop at night


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