Any suggestions for stubborn roo at bedtime?

[Raubkatze]

How is your setup?
I understand you have them free ranging.

I do this part of the day too. But they stay in a safe run too part of the day.

Since I started to scatter some mixed grains and a few dried mealworms in the enclosed run, I have no problems getting them in.

Scattering it in a very light and bright big coop with a lot of ventilation (the best side almost 100% hwc) can work too.

They are in a run, not free range yet. Until we get out autodoor installed + I feel like they are reliably putting themselves away I will not be free ranging them.

To me, this implies he is in a run.


The others go in the coop on their own so it is not a matter of the coop being so dark they cannot see to go to bed.

Try waiting until it is dark. If he doesn't go in on his own he will settle down and go to bed somewhere. If it is dark and you can get to him it should be easy to catch and lock inside the coop.


How old are they? From the photo he looks kind of young. Is he so immature that he is afraid of the girls? Are they bullying him? How big is the coop? Is it so small he can't get away from them if he tries to sleep inside? Are you sure all of the others are girls?

My guess is that you are not giving him enough time to go in but letting him go to sleep first can make it a lot easier to catch him and stick him in the coop. I hope that is it. With them being immature strange things can happen. The behavior does not sound normal so something else may be going on.

I have a camera in the coop and have not noticed any fighting between them. A few of them roost, but most of them still seem to prefer their cuddle puddle to sleep at night. They have all been together since they were a day old. Unless the others are very, very delayed he is the only roo. My three Australorps were pre-sexed, though I know that is not 100%, and the other two that were in the same bin as him (straight run) have not developed a comb and waddles like he has. They are all only 9 weeks old, and have only been outside for a week in this coop. I know this will all take time to get use to this routine, but I just feel like it somehow shouldn't be this hard.

They seem to like their coop. They run in and out of it all day. In fact the first few days I had to encourage them to leave it. Any time it is too windy, or they hear something that startles them, they all run for the coop, so they seem to all know that it is their safe space. It does not have windows per-se, but it does have lots of ventilation up near the roofline.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I know this will all take time to get use to this routine, but I just feel like it somehow shouldn't be this hard.

Thanks for the info. When I move mine to the grow-out coop it can take a while for them to all get used to sleeping in the coop. I usually work with a group of around 20 when they are about 5 weeks old. My grow-out coop is elevated which I think makes it harder.

One time I had them all go into the coop to sleep immediately. Normally it might take a week to get all of them inside. A couple of times it took three weeks before the last decided to sleep in there. Be consistent in moving him in each night and he will eventually get the message. But try waiting until it is dark to save you all of that chasing.