Rooster behavior

[Edin]

Hello everyone! I am new here and a first time chicken owner. We have recently found out one of our hens is a rooster. They are about nine weeks old. We love him and his sweet personality and have decided to keep him. Hopefully everything goes smoothly through his hormonal change. He does a wonderful job at night getting all of the girls to go in the coop at dusk but for some reason he doesn’t want to go in himself. We’ve tried to wait him out a few times but always end up just putting him in which is not a big deal but it would be nice if he went in with everyone. We have a spot that we can see our coop from a window in our hallway and he sees us also. He paces along the door at night like he’s waiting for us to go out there and put him in. He’s very smart and I’m pretty sure he knows that’s home and that he needs to go in but it’s like he’s waiting for us. Not sure how to train him to go in on his own. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Try a small light in the coop at dusk. If he sleeps in there often enough, he will eventually develop the habit to do so on his own.

 

[Edin]

Try a small light in the coop at dusk. If he sleeps in there often enough, he will eventually develop the habit to do so on his own.

Thank you for the advice. We have a small push light in there that we turn on every night until they get the hang of it. I guess just keep putting him in there.

 

[Flockincrazy]

I have a bug zapper that is on a timer so when the bug zapper comes on everyone goes in now that includes the bunnies cause the bunnies are in with my flock all day our one bunny ZeeZee gets mad when we take her in so I decided that it is ok for her to stay out with everyone else

 

[Peppercorngal]

My main rooster Harvey does not sleep in the coop. He roosts outside the coop with 4 or 5 of his favorite hens. I have an enclosed "run" where the roost is. I lock him in the run and lock the coops so everyone is safe. Maybe you need an attached run so he can go ahead and sleep outside? 1/2 my run is covered so he can roost at night in the rain as well. Just a thought.