If I keep my Roo up later will he sleep in?

[GrayAcres]

Our Roo and chicks spend the night on a porch just outside our kitchen. I have found that the Roo will start crowing early but goes back to sleep as long as no one turns on a light in the kitchen. If he is asleep and a light goes on he wakes up. When you turn off the light he goes back to sleep. It is so fun to "play" with him

 

[Mervin]

Quote:
mine never take dirt nap's ... only soup naps

muwahaha ... muwahahahahaha

Your roos like hot-tubbing too? I'm actually firing up the "spa" this evening. 4:30 was getting kind of ridiculous. Plus, he started crowing in the middle of the night when cars drove down the road about 300 yards away.

 

[WonderChicken]

Quote:

I'm sorry my thread woke up your big guy.

Ok today is day 4 and Moe got up at the same time as yesterday...about 6:20am. Still about 80-90 minutes later than before I installed the lights. So far, so good. I doubt I'll get him to sleep much later since the sky starts to lighten about then. I do have plans to cover all 4 front doors (which are screen) for the winter. That may also help get him to sleep in more as well by blocking out the light. I chose a material that is impermiable so it will not let in light. It is washable and is white in color which will help in keeping the coop bright at night with the lights on. I plan on sewing heavy duty velcro onto both sides on the edges and stapling a strip onto the exterior of the coop doors as well. This will allow me to roll the covers back onto themselves from top, bottom, sides or both ends at once to let in light/airflow as needed depending on the weather without removing them altogether. Hopefully I will have the door covers done by next week ;o)

 

[WonderChicken]

Well, I think we've gotten as much sleep as we can out of Moe without additional aids. 6:20am is about his norm with the lights on at night. Still hoping for a bit longer once the window coverings are in place for the cold. If not 6:20am is still much much better than 5am

 

[WonderChicken]

*Update*

So the coop door(s) window covers are installed. I used a waterproof semi-flocked material I found at the local fabric store. It is commonly used to make waterproof baby bedding. Seems very durable and it is machine washable. And because it is impermeable it does not let light penetrate. I had a friend sew velcro on the front and back of all edges. (It required leather needles to get thru both layers of velcro plus the material, and I used Heavy Duty cotton thread which is three separate threads that are wound together into one final thread. You can not break this sewing thread by pulling. Very sturdy.) This allows me to roll the material back and it will stick to itself. This allows innumerable positions to adjust for air flow and weather conditions and having four separate door windows I can adjust to the conditions even more. I stapled the receiving velcro to the outside of the coop door windows. This holds each panel in place very well. The only changes I would make for next year is to redo the door window velcro as it tends to stretch in between the staples. I will change this out with new velcro and use many, many more staples to avoid the stretching. I expect these weather panels to last for 5 years or better.

Our official sunrise is currently around 7am. I have the coop led rope light on a digital timer set to go off at midnight giving the birds a total of 17 hours of light daily. This has brought my pullets into laying and my Roo now sleeps like a baby till around 645am every day. The coop is not hot or humid and the birds are very comfortable it seems. I will be setting a remote digital thermometer in the coop to monitor temperatures, but so far every time I have checked the coop does not seem overly warm and definitely not cold. The ventilation is extremely good and there is no smell of ammonia buildup.

Life is good

This project has confirmed that I can have my Roo and eat my eggs too!

 

[WonderChicken]

Moe has continued to sleep in until around 645am so it's not a fluke. Everyone is good and yesterday I actually got 4 out of 5 hens to lay...woohoo. The steps I've taken so far seem to have made everyone happy and Moe seems to be friskier with the girls too. Alot more lovin going on

Well winter weather is finally here

The 4 coop door windows are covered. The bottom half of the coop is well insulated and the top stays comfortable, however the lower half of the coop is a bit small to put the heated waterer and feeder along with the nesting box in, so the feeder will have to remain outside in the run. I really didn't want food in the coop. Too messy. It's supposed to be a high of 23 and low of 9 with negative wind chills tomorrow and Monday. I put all the leaves from the yard into the back half of the run for bedding and insulation and it is a few inches thick. They seem to like to stay in the leaves and one of the girls preferes to lay her eggs there. I did put tarps over the run completely covering the sides and top, but not the end. This should be a good wind break from the gusting winds we are expecting with this cold front coming in later today. I have read in other threads that if I cover their wattles and combs as well as their legs with petroleum jelly that this helps prevent frostbite. Will be venturing to get that done today before the front moves in.

If you can think of anything else I need/can do to help them thru the winter, please let me know. Thanks!

I'll update this with a current pic in just a bit. Have to get out to store for vaseline ;o)

 

[WonderChicken]

High today was around 20 with gusting winds up to 30 mph. The lower level of my small coop is well insulated and it seemed the eggs were very cold but not frozen in the nesting box. I also got one egg from the run that a hen left on the leaf bedding. It was a bit warmer, but may have been layed later than the one in the coop nesting box. The run did very well today. Being tarped over kept the snow out and the breeze was minimal. I could see no evidence of the leaf bedding blowing from the high winds so the tarps have done well as a windbreak even leaving the end of the run uncovered. I am leaving the cold eggs on the countertop to warm a bit then going right into the fridge. None are cracked. I am thinking to crack one open tomorrow after leaving them in the insulated coop area to see if it is actually keeping them from freezing. If it is then I only have to be concerned with the one hen who lays in the run.

I am very pleased with the functional design of the coop and run. Even after a bitterly cold blistering night of snow and high winds very little snow blew in between the boards of the privacy fencing walls. At best only a slight dusting right where the gaps are between the boards. All the chicks seem very happy (note we did slather the combs, wattles legs and toes with a layer of petroleum jelly (unscented) last evening before they went into the roost). The roosting area in the upper level is always very cozy for the 6 of them.

My latest inventive idea came after realizing the other day that one can not scrape frozen chicken poo from the coop floor and knowing that it will soon be where there will weeks at a time where it does not get above the freezing point I had to do something different. So... I lined the coop floor upstairs and downstairs with cardboard. This has many benefits. 1) It insulates the floor. 2) It absorbs the liquid out of the feces. 3) I will be able to pull out the cardboard and just throw it straight into the trash. 4) It will save me time in regular cleaning. 5) It will absorb any spilled water from the heated waterer keeping ice slicks from forming on the coop floor. 6) It is a free material available from local stores and grocers. 7) This smart solution to dealing with winter housekeeping and will keep the chicks healthier as I can change out the cardboard frequently to avoid buildup in between regular coop cleanings over the winter.

Hoping to still get updated pics soon ;o)

 

[Gooter]

I believe that if you keep your roo up later (with light) he will sleep in. Mine does.

I have the most wonderful Serama roo and he has a great 'cage' - his house - in my basement. I keep a light on down there in the evenings because I do some work down there and also have exercise equipment...and my wood stove is down there. The light stays on till about 9:30 or 10pm usually. He will go up on his roost somewhere around 9; rarely earlier. Summer time it's about the same.

He NEVER crows before sunrise. In summer, it's earlier, because sunrise is earlier. In winter, (lately) it's been around 7:30. It's rare that he wakes me because I'm virtually always awake before him.

AND - I have 2 full-size roos outside. They go in their houses to roost just before dark, and they begin crowing around 5am or so. Earlier if they hear some animal moving around outside. My Serama roo (inside) NEVER starts crowing just because they crow. He crows only at sunrise...and since he's in the house, he's quite audible. Yes, he can hear the ones outside perfectly, and does not respond until he's ready to crow!

So I believe you might try the light because it should work. As to whether or not your roo will crow when others crow...it's up to him.

 

[WonderChicken]

Well it's 6 degrees out and sunny. The coop is toasty warm to my delight. Everyones toes were warm

Moe is enjoying sleeping in I believe. He seems much happier...well that was until I opened the coop door to let them out to see the snow...lol!! Not even one liked it... so back in they went. That's ok, they don't need to be out. I don't think he was up before 7am this morning. Project complete. One toasty warm winter coop and one beautiful roo who now sleeps in and can stay

If you'd like to know how I got my roo to sleep in during the winter you'll have to go back and read thru the thread ;o)

 

[WonderChicken]

2 noteworthy bits: High of 20 degrees today and of the 2 eggs I got from in the coop neither were frozen. Very cold but not frozen at all

Also, got the remote digital thermometer in the coop today. Not sure of best position in the roost yet, but will play with it to find out.