Yay! My girls have put themselves to bed the last 3 nights! Also, rooster question.

[MadHens]

i feel like I'm a mom who's celebrating my kids' being potty-trained or something! My six 10-week old girls (well, I'm pretty sure one is a boy - get to that in a minute) have been living in their coop for about a week or so, and have been putting themselves to bed for the past 3 nights. I think they would have done it sooner, but we were putting them in because the run wasn't finished yet. It's been like clockwork - right around 7:30 p.m. they go in and fly right up to roost.

We can tell which one is the head hen, because she's the first one out when I let them out in the morning, and the first one in at night. So funny to watch the behaviors! Two of the other hens were standing on the ramp at 7:15 (one had half her body in the coop) and it was like they were waiting for the head hen to say it was o.k. When they realized it wasn't "time" yet, they jumped off the ramp. Then, 15 min. later, they all marched in, except for the one I think is a rooster. I noticed he kind of looked around the run, like he was checking to make sure everything was o.k. before going in. He's also the last one to come out of the coop in the morning.

Do those of you who have roosters find this to be true - that he will be last one out in the morning and last one in at night?

 

[HEChicken]

I wouldn't use that as an indication of gender but yes, my rooster waits until he thinks everyone is in, then does a circuit of the coop to be sure. Once he is confident they're all in, he'll go in himself.