Where does your Rooster sleep?

[Jaimesweet]

About a month ago my rooster (P-Diddy) was put in time out for a week due to being aggressive. He's behaving much better but hasn't gone back in the coop since. I was fine with that since it gives the hens a break but was surprised as I'd expected him to want back in their coop. However, the place P-Diddy is staying isn't going to be suitable in cold weather so it seems I'll need to build him his own coop. If he had his way, he'd sleep on top of the coop. When all the hens go in he immediately gets up there until we put him away. 
So, this made me curious, where do your roosters sleep?  With or separate from the hens? If separate, is it higher than the hens coop? 

 

[Jaimesweet]

My rooster ruca sleeps with our hens. But my other guy roo sleeps in his own bunny hutch. He likes it but allows him no excersise until I let him out. Ruca can jump out of his area and if roo was walking around there would be a showdown .....so sad . I let roo out every day to range and do what he does.

 

[Tonia K]

You put the new Roo with your girls straight away? Did they all acclimate well to one another? I have recently gained a roo that was no longer wanted ( they thought they has all hens and that is all they wanted). My girls are 21 weeks and he is about the same age give or take a week or two. I put him with my girls (6 of them) they avoid him at all costs. I have seen him nip at a couple of them but not to the point of concern. My girls aren't yet laying. They are going through molt and the days are getting shorter. So with all that being said I am afraid the new Roo (today is day 3)it may be stressing them out. Do I sequester him? Anyone?? Advice please!~

 

[CherryAdventure]

You put the new Roo with your girls straight away? Did they all acclimate well to one another? I have recently gained a roo that was no longer wanted ( they thought they has all hens and that is all they wanted). My girls are 21 weeks and he is about the same age give or take a week or two. I put him with my girls (6 of them) they avoid him at all costs. I have seen him nip at a couple of them but not to the point of concern. My girls aren't yet laying. They are going through molt and the days are getting shorter. So with all that being said I am afraid the new Roo (today is day 3)it may be stressing them out. Do I sequester him? Anyone?? Advice please!~

They'll get used to him. It took a while with my girls too. At this point, he's pretty low in the pecking order. As he gets higher, he'll be more accepted. As long as he's not hurting them, I'd leave him. Same as introducing hens, really. I got three new ones, and they were avoided religiously for a week or so. Again, as he's not hurting them, I'd leave him.

 

[CherryAdventure]

Mine sleep with the hens, on the top perch. I have a couple hens that sleep on the roof though. Even when it rains.

 

[MyMonsters91]

On the roost, with the girls. Always the same side of the roost bar, but not in any particular placement between the girls. I've seen him up against the wall, as he is in this photo, and I've seen him stuffed between hens. The ducks get the floor of the coop, the chickens get the roosting bars.

 

[CherryAdventure]

We only get a few nights below 20 degrees so i don't don't know how much cold they can tolerate. I am more concerned about the hot weather here. My coop and run are shaded by a big Eastern Red Cedar on the Southwest side.

It gets pretty hot here, sometimes 40+ in the summer. 104+ Fahrenheit, for America.

We keep plenty or water around, and I sometimes put a sprinkler in, and they play in the water on the ground. I dig holes and fill them with sand for dust baths. In summer, my mulberry tree gets it's leaves back, so they have plenty of shade. On hotter days, I have heard you can fill a bucket with seed and water and freeze it, then put it on a tray in their pen for them to peck at. It'll cool them down for sure. I've never needed to do the bucket thing. Mine cope really well. Most of the time they hang with us on the veranda.

 

[Tonia K]

They'll get used to him. It took a while with my girls too. At this point, he's pretty low in the pecking order. As he gets higher, he'll be more accepted. As long as he's not hurting them, I'd leave him. Same as introducing hens, really. I got three new ones, and they were avoided religiously for a week or so. Again, as he's not hurting them, I'd leave him.

Thanks CherryAdventure! You are the only one to not scold me on not having him in quarantine for 30 days first. Although, I do understand the reasoning behind it, I was advised by a far more seasoned then me chicken parent that they'd all do fine together. It was a spur of the moment situation as I found out about the available roo and essentially need to go get him as they had an emergency and needed to leave town. i had no time to properly research the "right" way to add a new bird, let alone a roo. all of the chickens in out county were ALL state veterinary checked as there was a AI outbreak nearby so I fell pretty confidant that he is in good health. This is all new to me I got my girls when they were a day or two old back in March.To that point I had only educated myself on laying hens. One step at a time I was thinking to myself but then chicken math took over. LOL. Fortunately, I am able to go out and ck on them and sit nearby and observe several times a day. He does nip at them a bit occasionally but nothing severe. He did also try to mount one of them and was biting her in the back of her head. I was out there cleaning at the time and broke it up.There is so much conflicting information out there it is hard to know what to do. Thanks again for your response!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Mine roosted with the hens until several went broody, then he started sleeping right outside the nesting boxes, clearly "on guard". Now that all the girls have finished mommy duty and gone back to roosting, I'm not sure where he's sleeping. I'll have to check.

 

[Frindizzle]

One of mine sleeps on a nest box, looking out the chicken-door. The other sleeps on the top of the roost with all the other hens.