Nesting box issue

Hiya! I have six 17 week old pullets in my coop. The coop has a low and a high roosting bar, and is big enough for at least nine chickens, so they're not pressed for space at all. The nights here are brisk, but not cold, usually in the fifties. Despite all of this, five out of six pullers sleep in the nesting boxes! We have two large nesting boxes, and four of them fit in one, as the lay on top of one another and snuggle. This isn't normal chicken behavior! They've been doing this since we first put them in the coop, and we had repeatedly picked them up and placed them on the roosting bar. We even closed off the nesting boxes for a few weeks. But now we're hoping to get eggs from our Red Star Sex Link soon, and we don't want her thinking of the next box as a bed and laying where she's not supposed to, when she starts laying. :cd.
Does anyone have tips or suggestions? Any help is greatly appreciated

Haven't tried it, but have heard of curtains. Put curtains on the nest boxes. Close the curtains after they lay their eggs and open the curtains in the morning before they lay.

Start blocking them off in the evening before roosting time. You still have a few more weeks before they start laying. Get them in the habit of roosting ASAP. Chickens are creatures of habit. When they develop bad habits like sleeping in the nest boxes, you have to be very consistent and determined. Just keep those nest boxes closed off before roosting time, and when it's time to shut them in for the night, pick them up and put them on the roost. Just keep at it. Once the roost becomes their habit, they will forget all about sleeping in the nest boxes.

Make sure when you manually move them from nest box to roost that you do it after dark. They can't see well in the dark. If you do it before it's really dark, they might just hop on over to the nest boxes again. But yes, blocking the boxes off for the night should do it.

What I do is this. After last gathering of eggs in the evening. (I gather twice a day because I have around 100 layers and it minimizes breakage) Around 6 PM I cover all nest nest boxes with grates. My boxes were hand built and designed so that old oven racks work perfectly, but you can use pretty much anything,, even make something up with some scrap wood and hardware cloth. Along as it is heavy enough that the chicken can not push it aside and get in. (the curtain method sounds like a good idea, but eventually they will learn that they can get in easily so it only works for a short time usually, personal experience) After lights out at 9 PM,, (my lights are on a timer for extra light) I go back out and uncover the nests, and help any younger chickens up onto the roost if they didn't happen to make it before light out or just haven't learned yet. They do learn fairly quickly tho so within a week or two they have learned to be on the roost well before lights out.

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate the advice. I'm going to block off the nesting boxes for a while, help them on the roosts, and if I have time, sew some chicken curtains Again, thanks for the chicken wisdom!

Hufflefluff said:

Hiya! I have six 17 week old pullets in my coop. The coop has a low and a high roosting bar, and is big enough for at least nine chickens, so they're not pressed for space at all. The nights here are brisk, but not cold, usually in the fifties. Despite all of this, five out of six pullers sleep in the nesting boxes! We have two large nesting boxes, and four of them fit in one, as the lay on top of one another and snuggle. This isn't normal chicken behavior! They've been doing this since we first put them in the coop, and we had repeatedly picked them up and placed them on the roosting bar. We even closed off the nesting boxes for a few weeks. But now we're hoping to get eggs from our Red Star Sex Link soon, and we don't want her thinking of the next box as a bed and laying where she's not supposed to, when she starts laying.

.

Does anyone have tips or suggestions? Any help is greatly appreciated

Click to expand...

Are you sure it's big enough?
What are the dimensions (feet by feet)?

Are you roosts higher than your nests?
How long have they been sleeping int he nests?

A pic of the inside of your coop would help folks spot any problems and offer better solutions

aart said:

Are you sure it's big enough?
What are the dimensions (feet by feet)?

Are you roosts higher than your nests?
How long have they been sleeping int he nests?

A pic of the inside of your coop would help folks spot any problems and offer better solutions

Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed reply, I was camping. I'll try to track down a picture of the coop, but it's six by eight feet, and they free range all day. The roost is not quite a foot and a quarter of the ground, and we have a smaller roost that is just a few inches of the ground. The tall roost is maybe an three inches higher than the top of the nest boxes. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll try to take one later today. Our pullets have been finding ways to get into and sleep in the nest boxes since they were six weeks old, when we put them in the coop. Thank you, and sorry if this isn't helpful.

Another thing to consider is the headroom above the roost. If the birds think they are going to bash their heads or wings into the ceiling when they jump up they will be inclined to look for alternate roosting spots. Your roosts aren't too much higher than the nest boxes. I've heard that at least a foot difference is best. If you block off the nests for now they will probably start roosting on their own as long as the roost is inviting. If they don't, just move them up there at dusk. A few days of waking up on the roost should convince them to put themselves to sleep there.