Bringing roosters inside at night

[NatJ]

My only concern is the light and noise. Their cage will be covered but I will be up weaving and listening to something sometimes, not daily. Will this disrupt sleep and potentially cause avoidable issues?

If you want to bring them in to avoid morning crowing, you might just do it later on nights you want to weave. But if bringing them inside before you weave works better for you, I wouldn't worry about the light or the noise harming the chickens.

Light will probably keep them awake, so they may get bored and pick at each other in the crate. If they are in the dark, of course they will just sleep in there. But if you are in there weaving, you will notice if they are picking at each other, and can decide what to do about it.

Long days in the spring and summer (or artificial light in the evening at any season) can encourage egg laying, so you might get more eggs if they regularly have extra light at night. Inconsistent light (some days but not others) might not cause them to lay as many eggs, but I don't think it will hurt them either.

 

[bhawk-23]

So most likely sir screech a lot will not be staying. I had seen a small scab on one of my favorite hen's comb about a week ago but could not figure out how or why. It was just a small knick already scabbed over so left it alone. Yesterday I caught sir screech in action relentlessly and aggressively chasing my Australorp around the yard. Seriously, out of the coop, into the bushes, out of the bushes, and continued until he finally got her by the comb (not to mount), and is pulling on it. He continued to pull hard, even after she submitted, until I got there and stood between them. He has done this behavior before but I've never seen him grab a comb and draw blood. Plus it was mainly towards the other cockerels. But they have been gone for 7 days now and he appears to be getting worse. He started this behavior a few weeks ago with one of the Serama pullets (not near as aggressive) but I figured she was getting close to laying and he was establishing his dominance. I have yet to see him mount any pullet or hen though. I let the young cockerels go early thinking it would deter his behavior.

I'm not willing to watch him harass my hens and draw blood. I was really upset when I watched him guard the door to the run/coop and chase the hens out when they were going to roost for the night. As much as I love watching him and his girls in the yard I'm not willing to keep a rooster who is this territorial, mean to hens and is starting to follow me invading my space. I have had really awesome roosters who stayed with me until 18-20 weeks and move on to my friend's farm where they have become her favorite roosters. I could see it in their behavior from about 6 weeks and not one acted like this, ever!

I caught him before roosting time so the girls could get. He has been confined inside until now. He is no longer crowing, which makes me sad because he is alone. Can this behavior be stopped? Or is his personality as a rooster starting to show now that the other cockerels are gone? If he was breeding the hens I could understand it more but he is not even trying to. He has decided the coop is for his girls (the 2 serama pullets) and is defending it from the rest. This does not seem like a good rooster to keep in a yard of 11 hens when he's decided he only likes 1 or 2 of them. I'm worried about the young silkies as he could really hurt them!

I'd really appreciate some thoughts on this. I am wondering is removing him made his behavior worse or since he has been displaying this for a few weeks now it is not necessarily the 2 nights inside. Learning and understanding chicken behaviors is really important to me if I am wanting to keep a flock safe and happy.

Thanks!

 

[CreveChris]

So most likely sir screech a lot will not be staying. I had seen a small scab on one of my favorite hen's comb about a week ago but could not figure out how or why. It was just a small knick already scabbed over so left it alone. Yesterday I caught sir screech in action relentlessly and aggressively chasing my Australorp around the yard. Seriously, out of the coop, into the bushes, out of the bushes, and continued until he finally got her by the comb (not to mount), and is pulling on it. He continued to pull hard, even after she submitted, until I got there and stood between them. He has done this behavior before but I've never seen him grab a comb and draw blood. Plus it was mainly towards the other cockerels. But they have been gone for 7 days now and he appears to be getting worse. He started this behavior a few weeks ago with one of the Serama pullets (not near as aggressive) but I figured she was getting close to laying and he was establishing his dominance. I have yet to see him mount any pullet or hen though. I let the young cockerels go early thinking it would deter his behavior.

I'm not willing to watch him harass my hens and draw blood. I was really upset when I watched him guard the door to the run/coop and chase the hens out when they were going to roost for the night. As much as I love watching him and his girls in the yard I'm not willing to keep a rooster who is this territorial, mean to hens and is starting to follow me invading my space. I have had really awesome roosters who stayed with me until 18-20 weeks and move on to my friend's farm where they have become her favorite roosters. I could see it in their behavior from about 6 weeks and not one acted like this, ever!

I caught him before roosting time so the girls could get. He has been confined inside until now. He is no longer crowing, which makes me sad because he is alone. Can this behavior be stopped? Or is his personality as a rooster starting to show now that the other cockerels are gone? If he was breeding the hens I could understand it more but he is not even trying to. He has decided the coop is for his girls (the 2 serama pullets) and is defending it from the rest. This does not seem like a good rooster to keep in a yard of 11 hens when he's decided he only likes 1 or 2 of them. I'm worried about the young silkies as he could really hurt them!

I'd really appreciate some thoughts on this. I am wondering is removing him made his behavior worse or since he has been displaying this for a few weeks now it is not necessarily the 2 nights inside. Learning and understanding chicken behaviors is really important to me if I am wanting to keep a flock safe and happy.

Thanks!

I want my rooster to give up if the hen fights, but you say it's not breeding? I don't know, but roos are easy to come by and hens are precious in my humble opinion. I chose my roo for how he treats the girls and me.

The other roos before him, including his brother, were too hyper and I didn't keep them past 8mos. I understand they're supposed to get calmer as they age. My current roo's dad got sweeter after I made a bachelor pad to remove his 2 brothers from gen pop. But he would still bite me sometimes and spurred my husband.

I think, no matter what, they're going to be hyper or calm by nature, even though I've read arguments to the contrary, which don't explain how treating 3 roos exactly the same can result in one calm roo and two hyper ones.

 

[NatJ]

So most likely sir screech a lot will not be staying.

That will certainly prevent the neighbors from hearing his crowing

I have had really awesome roosters who stayed with me until 18-20 weeks and move on to my friend's farm where they have become her favorite roosters. I could see it in their behavior from about 6 weeks and not one acted like this, ever!

I would probably remove him, and just be without a rooster until you find another really nice one. (Unless your friend is willing to return one of those nice ones you already rehomed.)

 

[bhawk-23]

I want my rooster to give up if the hen fights, but you say it's not breeding? I don't know, but roos are easy to come by and hens are precious in my humble opinion. I chose my roo for how he treats the girls and me.

No, he's not breeding any hens, not even his Serama pullets. I don't think he can breed the hens! He's 1lb and the hen are full sized! He literally chased her to no avail, jumping up trying to get her comb. Even after she ran completely out of his space he chased her all around and then continued to hold her down after she submitted. He was aggressive enough to make her bleed in the 2 seconds it took me to get to her when I realized he wasn't stopping even after she submitted.

That will certainly prevent the neighbors from hearing his crowing



I would probably remove him, and just be without a rooster until you find another really nice one. (Unless your friend is willing to return one of those nice ones you already rehomed.)

True!
I sometimes regret giving her Oscar. Every single time we talk she goes on about how great he is. I knew he was a keeper.

I really want a rooster and my neighbors are ok with it. It's DH who is panicking about the morning crows. I figured bringing the three inside was a good compromise since they are so little and it is in my craft room that can have the door closed.
We have a silkie rooster (18 weeks) who does not crow but once or twice at morning let out. It's a deep one too. He'll stay no matter what because he is DS's bird. It will take many complaints and the city order to remove this one.

Strange that the Serama rooster had never even taken a second look at him.

 

[bhawk-23]

@NatJ

Oh! And I've now given my friend 4 healthy young good layers and 3 roosters. She received 9 Polish pullets and I said "how about a trade, 1 polish for the two new roosters". That did not go well. Maybe no more freebies for her lol

 

[AvocadoAbi]

Hello all,

I have a question about bringing my 3 Serama chickens inside at night. The rooster, Sir Screech A Lot, crows early. While I am allowed roosters I'm my town I don't want to upset neighbors. In an attempt to curb the disturbance of early morning crows I decided to bring him and his 2 ladies inside at night. They are in a dog crate with a perch and moving blanket covering the top and 3 sides. I don't mind the crowing, which started a little later in the morning, and the neighbors should not be disturbed. Problem fixed.

My actual question is, they are in the sunroom which happens to be weaving room! I sometimes like to weave at night, usually never past 11pm, but obviously the lights are on. Will this disturb their sleep cycle too much? Not really any other space to easily put them. Maybe I can completely cover the crate while I'm up and lift it when I turn off the lights?

Any advice is appreciated! I want to keep this adorable flock of 3, good relations with my neighbors and keep weaving! Am I hoping for something unattainable?

Thanks!

Same!!!
We're not allowed to keep roos, but our neighbors don't mind. However we don't want to disturb them, so we keep our roo in the garage at night in a dog crate.
Thing is, if we come into the garage in the middle of the night to get something, he will not stop crowing unless we leave. I guess he doesn't like us ruining his beauty rest.

 

[bhawk-23]

An update on keeping a rooster inside at night. I have been bringing my, roughly 24-28 week, Silkie rooster before bedtime. I am enjoying the heck out of our time together! I get him when the house is dark and quiet. We enter through the kitchen, he gets a snack but last night I realized he is really hungry so it'll be crumbles now, then we head to the couch that I've covered up along with a large towel for on my lap and then some, and he nestles right in for a couple episodes of Criminal Minds. We then head to his crate and he gently clucks as we say good night. He's pretty much replaced my cat who was my lap buddy at night. He is staying super sweet. But in front of his girls he is all about keeping his distance while watching me closely. Once we are in the house he is all snuggles. So weird, but it's working for us, for now

@CreveChris

Here are my finished blankets. Pics are from on the loom and after finishing. Colors were really hard to catch on my phone the the brighter blue and purple pics are closest to actual colors.

 

[Jenessa_096]

I actually had the same problem the neighbors were complaining, and we brought our rooster inside at night. Although, it does cause a bit of stress I don’t think it’s a horrible idea!

 

[NatJ]

Here are my finished blankets. Pics are from on the loom and after finishing. Colors were really hard to catch on my phone the the brighter blue and purple pics are closest to actual colors.

It looks like you warped the loom with a variegated gray, and then wove one blanket each with purple, blue, and gray? I like how it came out!