[bantam novice]

Well I don't know if there is anything to worry about.  My hens have taken to spending lots of time in the coop on the perches during the day.  If it was the other way round I'd think red mite or lice 

They come out fine first thing in the morning but when I go and check later in the day they are all in again.

Most of them have stopped laying though I am getting one egg every other day from one hen.   Combs and wattles are pale as a result.  They have a flubenvet regime against worms.

When they are out they seem to be eating and poohing fine and moving around quite happily.

They have layers pellets in the morning and later in the day I give them a treat of dried meal worms and some mixed corn.  They have grit available and have a run area 16 metres in diameter for six bantams.

I am aware that there are buzzards around and, of course the usual suspects of badgers, foxes and rats.

There is an electric fence surrounding the run area and a covered space for the food where the hens can take shelter too.

This morning, when I did the monthly clean of the coop, I shut them out and as soon as I opened the pop-hole again they were queueing up to get back in.

My question (after the dissertation - sorry) is have I missed anything or is there something I should be worrying about?

[orchardlady]

I have mostly standard sized hens but I also keep a few bantams and I've noticed that during the colder months they tend to be the last out in the mornings and the first in in the evenings. Also I've noticed that they often spend periods of the day inside the hen house on the pearches. They seem perfectly happy and healthy but I to have wondered if anything is amiss. However they are around four years old now and have done this each winter and seem perfectly fine. There may well be other bantam owners here that might shed a little more light on the matter but personally I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[compostqueen]

Mine are the opposite and go mental to get out and want to stay out even in the foulest weather (mine are brown hybrids)  I had to put them in the big run the other day as I was afraid they'd blow away. They were getting a real buffeting 

Perhaps yours don't like the wind and cold on them. Who could blame em 

[8doubles]

I think that a lot of bantams show more natural behaviour  than some of the larger fowl and getting a crop full of food then finding a warm safe place to sit and digest it is what a wild bird would do. The pale combs and wattles are a bit worrying though, if there are no red mite problems and the birds are not moulting i would check to see that they are not eating something slightly toxic.

How long have the hens been on that patch of ground, has it been dug over occasionally to prevent 'souring'?

[bantam novice]

Thanks all    Your help is much appreciated.

[orchardlady]

My little bantams have pale combs and wattles to but that's just this time of year. Non of them are laying but will kick in in the Spring time.