SLEEPING IN NESTING BOXES

I have eight, 17 week old hens who are all the same age and have been raised together since birth. At 12 weeks old, I put them out into their coop/run. During most days, I allow them to free range which they love. On some days, when I am not around, they stay in their 8'x9' run which has a roost for all of them. The coop is 5'x4' and has two nesting box attachments, each 3'x1'. One nesting box attachment has three sections to it and the other has no partition's. The coop has a gable vent, one square foot window which I leave open (hardware cloth protected), 36 inch x 5 inch window (hardware cloth) again left open and of course the 1.5' x .5 pop door (left open.)

At night, the hens go into the run and I close the run door. They then go into the coop but all of them migrate and huddle into the partitioned nesting box attachment. When they were chicks, I never even saw them huddle together like this. Why are they doing this and why are they choosing the partitioned nesting box? My concern is when they start to lay in a few weeks, won't this huddling upset and interferer with their egg laying inside each partitioned nesting box?

I am located in the eastern end of Long Island where the temperature is about 75 to 80 degrees during the evening. What are your expert/experienced thoughts on this and can I alter this behavior and more important, should I alter it?

3 likely problems here.

Your Coop may be too small.

The roost needs to be in the coop . That is where they have the protection and want to be.

The nest boxes IN THE COOP WILL NEED TO BE LOWER THAN THE ROOSTS. See problem #1

I hope the best for ya. Hope this helps.

I have one rooster and five hens, four nests, with a place to roost. They lay in one nest and roost in another nest, they were raised in cages and I assume this is the reason they do this. Their house is plenty big enough for them.
Kathryn

Chick Charm covered it pretty well. An exposed roost won't do. They don't feel safe so they won't use it. The nest boxes are in a more protected area so that is where they want to be. Also the boxes need to be lower than the roosts. Chickens want to roost high when they can.

Thank you! I should have told you that I have three roosts in the coop as well as a ladder type roost in the run which they love to sit on inespecially the morning.