Rooster sleeps on ground--too cold?

[schweger83]

Hello all,
We got our first batch of laying hens this spring and (surprise!) one of them turned out to be a rooster. The hens all sleep on the edge of their boxes but I have never seen the rooster in the boxes or on the roost. He sleeps on the floor beneath them. Now that winter is coming I am concerned that he may get too cold. They have a nice old chicken house with cement walls and floor. I have tried making him a straw bed in the corner where he sleeps but by morning the straw has been scattered all over. I don't know if he prefers sleeping on the ground or cannot get up on the roost. Any suggestions?

Also, we still have no eggs. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[andrea98]

What kind are they ? Sometimes larger girls take longer.

 

[schweger83]

They are Rhode Island Reds.

 

[kari_dawn]

What kind of roosts do you have? He may just prefer a flat sleeping surface...have you tried giving him a flat elevated board to roost on?

 

[Beekissed]

If you don't have your roosts higher than your nest boxes, I'd get them up there and position my roosts away from the nest boxes...say on the other side of the coop. Then I'd train your birds to the roost.

Just go out a couple, three nights in a row and place them all on the roosts. Make sure they can all get up on the roosts without too much difficulty by providing a ladder or ramp up. Block off your nest boxes at night so they cannot roost on them....you will thank me later when you do get eggs.

Before long you will have all birds roosting where they should and providing heat for one another by roosting close...and your roo will be right in the middle of the flock getting loved up on by his favorite gals.

If you have a concrete floor you might want to use the deep litter method so the birds have good warm bedding underfoot...I'd avoid hay or straw as it mats down too quickly and forms a cap on the bedding, making it hard to turn and fluff.

 

[schweger83]

Thank you for all the tips! I will try them out. This is a great site! I'm glad I joined.

The roost is about 4 ft off the the ground and the boxes are above it. I used to have a wooden doghouse with a flat top in the coop and the rooster did like to get up there.

 

[kari_dawn]

try making the roosts higher than the nest boxes for sure then! Chickens like to roost high, and roosting in/on nest boxes results in dirty eggs.

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Yep - you're going to want to drop the height of the nesting boxes so that the roosts are higher. And having 4' high roosts is already pretty high - hard to imagine having nesting boxes higher than that! Remember that the nesting boxes are only meant for the hens to go into and lay - they're not supposed to sleep in there. So drop the height of the nesting boxes and encourage the hens and rooster to sleep on the roost (lots of posts on BYC about how to do that).
Good luck -

 

[readjulie]

Our rooster sleeps on a flat surface. He prefers to sleep there. It's above the roosting boxes. He has ramp to get up there.

 

[schweger83]

Thanks for the tips.

It is an old hen house. The nests have always been that height. Guess I just assumed they were correct. We are going to do some rearranging this weekend. Looking into adding a flat surface too. Thanks again!