Sleeping in the box

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Pelican525

Pelican525

Hatching
Oct 31, 2015
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All of a sudden some of our hens have started roosting in the nesting boxes, What's up with that?
I'm thinking about putting up a curtain that I can lower before they go to roost, do you think that will help
put them back on the roost?
 
First lets
welcome-byc.gif

Now for your situation , there can be more than one answer..
Your chickens are possibly going broody. Another possibility is some are hiding from bullies that pick on them. Then there is the possibility that the roost is too crowded. The proximity of the roost is not IDEAL. Your nesting boxes are too desirable of a location .. Roost is not chicken friendly, (meaning maybe too narrow , or too close to the wall). I can speculate on and on, so give us some history on how it was before and now... The curtain IDEA may work for you.
There is not all that much BAD in them sleeping in the nesting boxes.. I know that they do leave little gumdrops that soil the eggs. Things could be worse.
idunno.gif
..
If you can,, then post some pix of your coops interior and maybe someone will come up with some crafty ideas..
WISHING YOU BEST
thumbsup.gif
 
Pelican525 said:
All of a sudden some of our hens have started roosting in the nesting boxes, What's up with that?
I'm thinking about putting up a curtain that I can lower before they go to roost, do you think that will help
put them back on the roost?
Click to expand...
I cover nests with a board a couple hours before sunset, them remove it after dark when I lock up...so I don't have to remove it early in the morning.

First you need to figure out why they are sleeping in nests.
Have you added new birds?
They have plenty of roost length?
 
In the first photo you can see the open window above the nesting boxes. In the third photo you can see their roost on each side. I made sure to make the roost higher than the nesting boxes. I built our coop this summer and with winter coming on I added wood shutters to the windows. There's one window over the nest and one behind each roost.
I think the girls are rebelling because I put shutters on the windows and closed them taking away their view. The west side of the coop has no wall just their fenced run.

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Last edited:
That's a sweet set up!

So change was shutter closed, there's probably your answer as to 'why'.

Cover nests as I suggested above, probably only take a week at most to retrain them to sleep on roost.
Their quirky with their habits at times, just need a little persuasion to 're-train' them to the roosts.
 
I just installed some curtains that I made out of a burlap feed sack. We will lower them in the evening B 4 they go to roost and raise them first thing in the morning.
I never even thought about them noticing their new shutters.
 

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