Do roosters sleep in coops?

[Maureen&chickens]

Sounds like a silly question but I have a Silkie hen and a Buckeye rooster who are about 16 weeks old and have been raised together. For the last 2 weeks the roo won't head into the coop at night (he was previously). The silkie heads in and then he just stalks around outside for about another hour before trying to find somewhere in the run to hide/sleep. We've been worried about someone eating him overnight so we go out and forcibly put him in the coop; not a pretty sight! Should we continue with this battle of wills or just let him do his own thing?

 

[spook]

Personally, she could be showing him who's boss and letting him sleep outside the coop is a bad habit for him and your 100% right on worrying about him being eaten...we are not the only ones that like chicken, although we usually don't eat silkie.
Do you have a carrier that you could put her in? possibly up his confidence, sometimes one sex or the other can be a bit bossy.

just my opinion! Have a good day.

 

[chickenmum]

I would probably put him in; I have a hen the perches up in the barn like every night just about and I climb up a ladder and bring into the chicken house when I lock in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what is going on. It does sound strange since he used to go in. I have 23 pullets and 5 cockerels a little younger than yours and all of mine go in at night. The non-dominant cockerels are the last ones in and the last ones to roost, but they do go in. It may be a maturity/dominance thing with yours but with only two, I'd really espect them to want to spend the night together.

Does he go into the coop during the day? Maybe something frightened him in the coop and he is afraid to go back in.

I'd suggest waiting until he settles down for the night, then moving him into the coop and on the roost with as little light as possible. He should get the message soon and he is a lot safer locked in the coop overnight than out in the run.

 

[hobbyfarmrookie]

For a while in the spring I had a hen and a roo that stayed outside on a rood in the run, to sleep. When I added some additional roost inside (a little higher) they moved inside. It appeared that wanted to be as high as possible even if that meant being outside.

 

[Kezzie]

Is there any chance that there's been a recent threat around the run? Maybe the roo feels like he has to stay outside and protect the hens...

 

[cheeps]

My little OEGB roo, King George, makes sure all his ladies are inside and then he goes in. the only time I've seen him stay outside is, like kezzie said, if he feels like there's a threat outside. We have tons of cats around here and if a cat is stalking around the coop he'll sit at the end of the ladder to the house all night long. I'd keep sticking him in the house. Repitition usually fixes things, I've found!

 

[spook]

I've always given my younger birds boundries (just mentioning this) and where they go to roost, keeping them in a pen for a week will remind them where they need to go to find food, water and safety.
But then again, I don't know how folks keep more then one roo!!! I have miserable girls! LOL (perhaps they need broom handles)
Good luck to you with him!

 

[Joecola123]

I have a silver laced cochin roo who goes in the coop with my 7 girls but he is usually the last one to go in He makes sure they are all in their place.

 

[Twatson154]

Tonight for the first time I came home from work work around midnight to see our white rock rooster sleeping on the ground nearly 100 yards away from the coop. Cold PA night to, around 27 degrees. He was very spooked by something. And as I tried to drive him in the direction of our back yard towards the coop he absolutely wasn't going there. Kept sidestepping me. Earlier today I picked him up with one hand. He's very tame typically. So I investigated with my nighttime varmint exterminator. A .22 rifle with super bright light affixed to the barrel. In the remaining snow I saw opossum tracks all over the place. So my theory is the rooster is spooked by coop invasion. Maybe he stays his distance to draw away the predator, or food theif in this case. Doesn't make sense to think he's too chicken to sleep in the coop. All of the birds would have seen the night time visitor. Okay, now time for me to hit the roost.