Single hen

[kerrie]

Hello,

My girls free range every day and have always taken themselves off to be when it starts to get dark until Tuesday evening. I went outside and found the 3 of them very much not in their eglu and I had to physically put them in. Then last night I had a migraine from hell and lay down in my room for a little while but the kids were in the living room/dining room/outside and the girls were free ranging as normal. When I could lift me head from the pillow I went in to the living room and went outside to check on everything and again found all 3 girls not in their bed.

The only other thing that has changed is that the littlest one has started laying so we have all 3 girls laying other than that everything is as it has always been.

Is this normal? Do I just carry on putting them back into the eglu or into the run as it's getting dark and see if they take themselves into the eglu from there?

Thanks

[tania]

Mine free range all day too and since the clocks went forward last weekend they are not going to bed until about 8 o'clock at night and last night Diana was faffing around for ages until it was pretty much dark before she decided to go to bed. Is it the change in time that's effected them? I've read lots about them not going to be until 10pm in the height of summer.

[Kittycat]

I tend to get mine back into their run at about 6pm ish (they will always come back at the rattle of some mixed corn in a tupperware) - at least then you know you don't have to roam around in the dark looking for them and they can take themselves off to bed when they're ready...

[kerrie]

Can't beleive that I didn't think if the clocks going forward

[Mutrix Farmers]

Ours just take themselves off to bed after a day free ranging, but I do always do a head count.

 

Last summer the girls stayed out until 10 some nights if the sky was clear and it was still quite light. Son got quite cross that they were allowed to stay up longer than him!! (I did try to explain that they don't have school the following day!)