I've got a few questions...

[Nikerdoodle74]

Profile edited. We are in North Idaho. I'll have to measure the coup today when I've got time, but I think when we built it, we built it for 12 with a little extra room. 6 of the 20 chicks are Sea Bright Bantams, and I've definately got one rooster. I over bought this year as I've been buying pullets and still averaging 3 or 4 roosters. We are thinking we may need to get another coup. I am tired of cleaning up after the big girls, and once my hay comes in in July, I really want them living in their coup again. Locking them in the barn and running them down in the morining maybe the answer. They go in and out of the coup all day for food and if its raining, they just refuse to roost in it.
Thank you for your insite!!

 

[Folly's place]

x3 on all comments!
I have a larger long handled fish net, very useful for those chicken wrangling adventures! Go out to the barn at night with a small flashlight or head lamp, and your big net, and have a rodeo...
Fix up that coop to be more inviting, and have an enclosed run attached, and lock the birds in there for a week or longer, trying to change their behavior. It's smart to avoid a place that's scary and where monster rooster lived!
Or, give up on those poor hens and concentrate on the chicks. The coop and run still need to be fixed, and twenty standard birds will need at least eight sq. ft. of coop space, plus a big run. Actually 100 sq. ft. or more will be better, at least, given your location.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Those bantams will be adorable! Also busy, and they do need space, even though they are smaller.
Cockerels growing up together are your best shot at having them be compatible with each other, so that's good. Your adult hens help there too, hopefully making them a bit more humble.
The right rooster are great to have, and here we have no reason to keep jerks in our flock. I generally have three adult roosters and three up and coming cockerels, and everyone must get along, in the flock, and with people. This spring I have only three roosters, because of miserable predation issues last year, and have several cockerels now five weeks old, and probably some younger, to choose from. As they grow, I watch, the adult birds help civilize them, and by fall they will be a much smaller group.
Mary

 

[Nikerdoodle74]

We did the math and the interior of our coup is 31.3 square feet of space.
Our run is harder to measure as it's not quite square.... It's a chain link dog kennel. Chad thinks it's about 14 foot by 14 foot-ish.
Our one try with a rooster was a disaster. Besides procreation, what does a rooster do for a flock? We like to let them free range during the day. We have "solved" the neighbor dog issue, but occasionally have a bird of strike...
I had the run covered with plastic bird netting, but the snow totaled it.
Thanks again everyone!!

 

[Folly's place]

So your coop has space for maybe seven birds, given your winter weather. Build bigger, or reduce your flock size before winter, at least.
Sell some young birds this summer and fall, as you see who you like, and who gets along.
Right now I have 74 birds, counting all the chicks. By fall I plan to have maybe 35, a nice number for my coop in winter. This summer is for making choices!!!
Mary

 

[aart]

Besides procreation, what does a rooster do for a flock?

In most cases....not much.

 

[Folly's place]

I do love having roosters, but only those who fit into my breeding goals for the flock, and who are assets in every way, not liabilities.
Mary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

... Besides procreation, what does a rooster do for a flock? We like to let them free range during the day. ...

Several things. They tend to keep the peace among hens. They find food for hens and stand guard while the hens eat.
Another great contribution is predator protection, being alert to threats and putting themselves out there, giving themselves up to save the hens. That being said, as beautiful as they are, I wouldn't expect much predator protection from Sebright roosters. By the way, did you know that the Sebright is the only breed in the world named for a person? Sir John Sebright developed them in the early 1800s. They are also one of the few breeds that cocks are supposed to be hen feathered.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I am wonering if you have any windows in you coop.
If not that might be part of it as it would be pretty dark.
Also when its closed up at night, is there any cross breese or air circulation?
I would think you could catch your hens if they are sleeping on the pallets in the barn by going out after dark with a dim flashlight and grabbing them.
Put them in your coop and keep them in there for a couple days. Put fake eggs or golf balls in your nest boxes. Maybe clean them first ( it looks like they may have been pooping in there) and put some straw or hay.
If your chickens fly up in trees, when you catch them trim the flight feaThers off one wing (there is some great instructions on just how to trim here) that will greatly impead their ability to fly very far up on anything,
Good luck!

X2

 

[ChickenCanoe]

No window. It's on our to do list for this spring. We have gaps in the roof to wall edges for ventilation. We were thinking of adding something like floor vents to the front and back for better ventilation that we could control...so maybe we should make that a definite to do. Hay or straw is better than pine shavings? I will clean the coup up, change bedding, and put put our decoy eggs. Hens are actually roosting on the rafter of the barn..its a terrible picture, making grabbing them while they sleep impossible. I'll try and find a way to grab them and force them to spend the night in there...they used to sleep in there, so maybe it will come back to them after a few forced times.
Thank you for your insight!

Windows should be the first thing considered when building a coop. Depriving them of plenty of ventilation/oxygen is a good way to get sick chickens.
If hens sleep in a building with bad air and not enough ventilation, and begin sleeping in trees or other open space, they will always choose the latter and refuse to return to the dark box.