Bedtime

[Hans Mum]

one of my girls is refusing to go to bed, all the rest are roosting as normal but 1 of my ex-batts is roosting on the branches in the run & is refusing to come down, i've tried to move her but OH is out & she's not having it. Should I leave her & shut the rest up or leave the door open & hope she goes in??its nearly 10.30 & i need to go to bed myself

[Nicos]

Yikes!!!
My instinct would be to try to get her in, but it's going to be a cold night- would you sleep having left her out????
She'd be OK I would think- there are plenty of wild chooks in the fields round here nesting in the trees!
If the coop is fox proof you could leave the door open- if not you need to keep the others safe!

[Hans Mum]

thanks Nicos, probably wont sleep....but got an early start tomorrow, they're worse than kids sometimes.
OH is not due home until early hours so rung him and told him he has to check on things, have dragged the isolation coop into the run so she can go into that if she wants and shut the others away, cant think why she's being awkward

[Snadger]

I have two cockerels that roost outside hail, rain or snow. Doesn't seem to bother them!

[mr darcy]

was she alright this morning? not too much frost on her tail?!!

[Hans Mum]

well i couldnt sleep worrying about her & so at some ungodly hour in PJ's & wellies i decided she was going in come what may.......armed with torch & stepstool managed to get her off where she was perched and tucked up into the coop, was a bit worried when the police helicopter went over head and seemed to hover a tad too long, but they obviously realised I was a mad chicken keeper & flew off She came out this morning without a care in the world

[Nicos]

Didn't think you'd sleep until she was in!!!
Glad all is OK- I wonder how she'll be tonight????

[Hans Mum]

Glad all is OK- I wonder how she'll be tonight????

no messing tonight I hope..... i need some sleep

[Glutton4...]

I accidentally left one of my new Batties out the first or second night after I mixed them with the original girls. She came running over to greet me in the morning! I felt terrible, it was little Oven-ready, tiny little pint-sized thing and almost totally bald She was fine!

I've put the automatic door on, now they've sussed where bed is, so I don't have to go out at stoopid o'clock now.

[mr darcy]

now i want to know if she went in last night! help i'm now worrying about other people's hens as well

[Glutton4...]

now i want to know if she went in last night! help i'm now worrying about other people's hens as well

LOL They seem to like routine. If they sleep out once or twice then it has already become a habit! I put mine in, manually, for the first three nights after I mixed them. Twenty five the first night, ten the second night and one the third. After that, and I checked and double checked, they were all going in by themselves. That's when I fitted the automatic door.

I had a friend with a pet Cockerel, she inherited it when she moved house. It slept in the tree near the kitchen window. It always had, so she always let it! I think it eventually died of old age.

[Hans Mum]

worry not Mr D she went to bed with the others last night & they & me were all tucked up in our respective beds nice and early

[mr darcy]

that's ok then