My girls love the nesting box HELP

I have tried everything I could find to try and get my girls to sleep on their roost. I've made a new roost, I've gone out every night to try and put them on the roosts. I've done verything short of replacing their coop. My girls aren't keying yet even though they are a little over 6 months old. I have one Sussex and three Orpingtons. Any out of the box solutions

newchick1358 said:

I have tried everything I could find to try and get my girls to sleep on their roost. I've made a new roost, I've gone out every night to try and put them on the roosts. I've done verything short of replacing their coop. My girls aren't keying yet even though they are a little over 6 months old. I have one Sussex and three Orpingtons. Any out of the box solutions

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I had the same problem at first, and I would go out and put them on the roosts every night. then I built a little ladder up to the roost and it solved it. I think mine are just lazy is your roost wide enough?

I'm not sure how wide should it be? My coop is short so the roost are only about a foot off the floor. My coop is not ideal ( husband bought a prefab coop) but it the best I can do for now.

Do you block off the nesting boxes on a nighttime? If not, then give it a try - it might encourage them to use the roost.
CT

Our coop is raised off the ground so we put the nesting boxes under the coop for their use during the day, but they don't have access to them at night. Maybe block the nesting boxes at night, as CTKen suggested.

newchick1358 said:

I'm not sure how wide should it be? My coop is short so the roost are only about a foot off the floor. My coop is not ideal ( husband bought a prefab coop) but it the best I can do for

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I read on byc somewhere that the roosts need to be higher then the nesting boxes. I don't know how wide they should be ideally, but we used a 2x4 turned on it's side, so the the wide side is up. ours are only about 2.5 maybe 3 feet off the floor of the coop but ours won't fly up, they prefer the ladder (we have friends with the same coop style and their hens fly up).

wildwestcoast said:

I read on byc somewhere that the roosts need to be higher then the nesting boxes. I don't know how wide they should be ideally, but we used a 2x4 turned on it's side, so the the wide side is up. ours are only about 2.5 maybe 3 feet off the floor of the coop but ours won't fly up, they prefer the ladder (we have friends with the same coop style and their hens fly up).

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Agreed, anything higher than the roost and they will preferentially use that. I have 5 month that has taken to roosting on a shelf which is 10cm higher than the roost - it seems 10cm is a big deal if you're a chicken! Mine fly up to the roosting bars, which are around 1.2m high although i do have an intermediate bar so the little ones can get up also.

I am not sure, but i tend to get the feeling that a lot of chicken coops that are sold are not ideal for the job. Sure they look pretty etc, but their limitations and very high cost render them useless IMO. A prefab shed is likely to be cheaper or the same price as a coop and gives much more flexibility in design / accommodating an increasing flock (we all do that, don't we?) and storing food.

CT

one of my hens the last couple of nights has been using the nesting box for sleeping, I am thinking that it is because it is more sheltered and it is warmer as it is full of wood chips.

What would be the best way to block off the nesting boxes. I'm working on a Diy coop but I've never built anything before. fix stuff I can do, starting from scratch hole new ball game. So it's slow going. Plus I'm not exactly swimming in time.
Thanks everyone.!!

I'm Always thrilled with how many people are willing to jump right in and help. My girls and I are eternal grateful.

newchick1358 said:

What would be the best way to block off the nesting boxes. I'm working on a Diy coop but I've never built anything before. fix stuff I can do, starting from scratch hole new ball game. So it's slow going. Plus I'm not exactly swimming in time.
Thanks everyone.!!

I'm Always thrilled with how many people are willing to jump right in and help. My girls and I are eternal grateful.

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maybe something simple like cardboard?