Bored Hen? Or Bonkers?

Would be grateful for advice - am I a bad mother?

We have had our two hens for two weeks, a black star and a goldine. They were kept in their run for the first week and I now have them free range in the garden for 2 hours when I get home at night and also all weekend where possible.

The black star has started to pace furiously up and down the run as soon as they come out of the eglu and this goes on for some time, and possibly often during the day. She looks like a possessed crazy woman, and to see her do this is breaking my heart.

I put treats in the run every morning and there are perches, pecker blocks etc in there, so I don't think it has anything to do with boredom, I think she just wants to be out in the garden.

What should be my next move? Should I carry on with my routine in the hope that she settles, or should I try and re-home her with someone who freeranges? The goldine seems fine but this evening I noticed that she has started to adopt the same behaviour.

Do chickens just have too high IQs to be locked up? Or do I just have too high IQ and am over concerned?

Please help, I'm very saddened by this behaviour.

Hi Mariamasher and welcome to the Clucks & Chooks forum!

I wouldn't say you are a bad mother to your girls, we all have to start somewhere and often no matter how much you may research into keeping chickens, it can be completely different to actually keeping them.

It does sound like unusual behaviour for a chicken and they do love to forage and spend their days scratching around but perhaps there's a solution out there. How big is the run?

I hope we can help!

Welcome to the forum mariamasher
In the run where they are kept do they have access to grass or any green stuff ? or fresh water ? hens like to forage around for any treats,they mainly like grass or green stuff to help produce eggs.You must make sure they have access to green stuff all the time,this may be why they are pacing up and down.
flump