Getting pullets to sleep on the roosting bar?

[44Wolves]

There's many other options then getting rid of them- for example,

"If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can sit and wait for the egg eaters to lay, then take their eggs before they can eat them and replace with golf balls (or the wasabi egg). They will peck and realize that the golden deliciousness does not come out of golf balls. Do this for 3-4 days as you supplement oyster shells directly into their feed (to make shells so hard that they're a little more difficult to break). This is how I've cured my egg-eating hens. Good luck!"

Or,
"Sorry to hear you are having this problem. I just recently had a RIR doing this. She had been molting sense I got her and she just begun to lay eggs, I had not bought any oyster shell yet so I did the thing were you bake the egg shells and break them until you can't tell they were eggs any more and then feed them back to the hens as their calcium source. They all loved it and ate it all right away, But with in days my RIR Elmo started to eat eggs. Now I don't think she was eating her own eggs but needless to say I was not happy. So I thought I started it by feeding them egg shells. What I did was separate her from the other hens and gave her a nest box also to see what she would do, then bought some oyster shells for everyone. Which they all scarfed down. Elmo continued to lay but not eat her own eggs, so I kept her confined for about a week and a half then decided to try one more time before she became our dinner! She no longer eats eggs! I think she just needed the calcium. Good luck, hope she stops!"

Another option is to make the nesting boxes the type where the egg will roll out of the nest box to a little capture area, where you can collect the eggs. Just look up roll-out nest boxes.

 

[mrballance]

I'm not having that problem, I was just worried about it because they were sleeping in nest boxes and about to start laying. They are roosting now so I'm a happy camper

 

[roheryn]

our coop is a elevated space above an enclosed pen. They like to sleep in the next box, maybe because the whole coop is elevated, and it feels snug. I have a 2x4 in there (not high enough) but they still snuggle in the next box (I only have 2 right now) I am going to elevate their roost and try a branch instead of a 2x4, but it may not matter. They are elevated in their "bedroom" and maybe they don't want to roost. I clean out their box every morning, and one lays in the corner of the coop, one lays in the nest box.

 

[The Mother Hen]

The best thing to do is block off the boxes, that's what I do when my hens are broody and resting on eggs. If your hens are sleeping in there you can block it off with plastic containers or plastic wiring secured on the top and bottom with heavy rocks.

 

[Morndew247]

That's what we have too. the coop above the run. They all cuddle together in a big box (two nesting boxes really, without the divider), but not in the nesting boxes that they lay in. I can see not wanting them to be laying in their poop though, so we are going to try and figure out a way to put up roosts. I won't force it on them though. If they take to them, fine. If not, whatever. We shall se what they choose.

 

[LindaMurphy]

Mine all like to pile up on top of the roosting box. It isn't a big problem for me. I just get out the hose and hose it out of the coop since it is in an open corner of the coop. I spray it through the fencing and it lands in my garden. My pepper plant on the other side just loves it!

 

[LindaMurphy]

Wow I didn't realize that this was a problem. I have been feeding back the egg shells mixed in with the other vegetables that I feed them that day and I have had no problem with any of them eating the eggs that are being laid but it seems as if they will not lay any more unless I give them what they want LOL. Little Red Hen waits for her breakfast. If there are no egg shells in it she squawks at me until I give her, her portion of crushed egg shells. I don't do anything except crush them and mix them in to something. A little wet dog food will work if I have nothing else. They do love the dog food too.

 

[The Mother Hen]

There's many other options then getting rid of them- for example,

"If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can sit and wait for the egg eaters to lay, then take their eggs before they can eat them and replace with golf balls (or the wasabi egg). They will peck and realize that the golden deliciousness does not come out of golf balls. Do this for 3-4 days as you supplement oyster shells directly into their feed (to make shells so hard that they're a little more difficult to break). This is how I've cured my egg-eating hens. Good luck!"

Or,
"Sorry to hear you are having this problem. I just recently had a RIR doing this. She had been molting sense I got her and she just begun to lay eggs, I had not bought any oyster shell yet so I did the thing were you bake the egg shells and break them until you can't tell they were eggs any more and then feed them back to the hens as their calcium source. They all loved it and ate it all right away, But with in days my RIR Elmo started to eat eggs. Now I don't think she was eating her own eggs but needless to say I was not happy. So I thought I started it by feeding them egg shells. What I did was separate her from the other hens and gave her a nest box also to see what she would do, then bought some oyster shells for everyone. Which they all scarfed down. Elmo continued to lay but not eat her own eggs, so I kept her confined for about a week and a half then decided to try one more time before she became our dinner! She no longer eats eggs! I think she just needed the calcium. Good luck, hope she stops!"

Another option is to make the nesting boxes the type where the egg will roll out of the nest box to a little capture area, where you can collect the eggs. Just look up roll-out nest boxes.

At one month I set the chicks on the bars so they knew they were there. Now at a month and a half they are sleeping on the bars just fine.

 

[iwanaplae2]

My girls know how to use the roost. And occasionally sit up there throughout the day. But still refuse to spend the night up there. I have one (almost) 6mo old layer, and four (almost) 4mo month old not yet laying. They all still dog pile at night. When my older girl started laying, I opened up the nesting boxes for her. Now they are all sleeping in them at night...grrr. I can not even begin to convey the frustration of cleaning those boxes out each morning...YUCK!! So knowing it may take some time to train them differently (and I am currently all about picking my battles) we built a "poop board" with rope handles to slide in before bedtime. That way they can roost in there all night, and I can pull it out in the mornings (to scrape and set aside for later) revealing a relatively clean nesting box for Miss Brandi to lay her egg.
On a side note; I went out to do the above mentioned job at my usual early dawn time, only to find Miss Brandi had laid her egg 2hrs earlier than usual. There it was sitting, in the middle of the poop board...blech!

 

[YardBirdCountry]

The problem basically worked itself out. At first I was annoyed when they first start laying and would still sleep (and poop) in the nest boxes. Now I have 3 birds that use the roosting pole. One that has always been a bit "challenged. that sleeps on the floor. The three (now two) younger birds use a nesting box. I have two nesting boxes. The younger birds do not go in the box that is actually used for laying eggs. So basically one nesting box and one pooping box, I can deal with that.