I got some new chickens in Nov. and even though I started them out in the coop, they insist on sleeping about 30 feet up in the trees at night. I have tried locking them up every night for 2 weeks and then letting them find their own perch at night, but instead of going into their house they go into the tree. It is easy to get them into the coop - I just give them some scratch - but they just don't want to be there at night. If I am not home to put them in, they ALWAYS go up in the tree. Any ideas why they would want to be up in the tree where it is colder and they could be killed by predators instead of in the coop where it is warmer and safer? I also have one hen who insists on laying her eggs in the yard. I just discovered a nest with 13 eggs in it. She laid one in the nesting box a week ago, but the rest are in her now not so secret hiding place...

any ideas would be wonderful.....

A neighbour lady added a new point-of-lay pullet to her flock of six in September. This pullet insisted on perching as high up as possible in trees and bushes, outside in rain and wind, although all the other (older) hens went into their coop every night. She was not even bullied by the others. For three weeks I helped every night climbing on ladders in the dark to catch the pullet and put her in the coop. The lady decided it was no use and gave me the pullet. Guess what happened: on the first night at my place she just walked into my little henhouse and the next couple of days she just went in and out and in and out again like she owned the place. She's a frank little pullet, never intimidated by my older hens, and since then my best layer: up to today 122 eggs in 126 days! how does she manage???
What I discovered going to the neighbour lady's was that her coop was infested by lice and who knows what else. Could the uncomfort caused by the parasites have been the reason?
Try to think like a chicken to figure out what the problem could be.

anny, That last line says a LOT! We just have to believe that we can solve problems that a hen can only do by instinct. You may have a very good answer with suspecting lice or mites!

And lucky you, to have a new pullet--and I can be sure that she has been dusted well, so will not be spreading any parasites to your sweet hens!! Oh Annie, I can just see you at the computer--what pleasant memories, I am so thankful! Love, Jean

Jean, the new (dusted) pullet actually is the one that escaped the run and you caught her on the bench that night - such good memories indeed. I have found the hole she escaped through (I wrongly thought she jumped the fence) and she, stupid chicken, never found her way back in, of course! Love, Anny.

The house is fairly new - just built in July. we had 4 chickens that we raised from chicks and 3 of them were eaten by a bobcat in Nov. Those chickens always slept in the coop happily, but when the others were killed, the remaining chicken would roost in a tree. So we got some full grown chickens from a lady that needed to get rid of them and they are a bit wild. They are excellent fliers and it has taken months for them to start being friendly. Could it just be that they are wilder than most chickens? I checked the chickens and the house for lice/mites and did not see anything....

When I had just my 3 Americanas (before I got all the others) they tried roosting in the trees. I say "tried" because when I was able to, I'd catch them in the act and grab them before they roosted. I'd take them and physically put them in the coop on a roost. By then, it's already dusk, and they don't want to leave.
A few times of being caught and moved and they no longer roosted in the trees.