Keeping chicks out of laying box?

[HollyParks]

I have a few pullets (non-egg laying) that keep getting into the laying boxes and crapping around, what would have been, clean eggs. Any ideas or strategies you use to keep them out?

 

[aart]

How old are these pullets, in months?
I assume you have older birds that are laying?
Are the younger birds getting into the nest during the day or at night?

 

[HollyParks]

They are between 11-13 weeks. It’s mainly just two of them. I’ll move them at night onto the roost with the other but during the day they get up there. I have plenty of room for them inside the coop to not go in the boxes, like the brooder area underneath the boxes. I have 18 other chickens which include layers, a rooster, and three older pullets (who generally stay out of the boxes). They have been cooped up more lately because I have two very patient hawks watching them everyday, so free-ranging has been pretty limited.

 

[aart]

They are between 11-13 weeks. It’s mainly just two of them. I’ll move them at night onto the roost with the other but during the day they get up there. I have plenty of room for them inside the coop to not go in the boxes, like the brooder area underneath the boxes. I have 18 other chickens which include layers, a rooster, and three older pullets (who generally stay out of the boxes). They have been cooped up more lately because I have two very patient hawks watching them everyday, so free-ranging has been pretty limited.

How big is the coop, in feet by feet?
Pics might help here.

Only free range no secure run?

Chances are the youngens are hiding from the older birds.

 

[Stephine]

I agree with aart, sounds like they are chased by the older birds and are hiding in the nest boxes to get out of sight. How long since they joined your flock? Solution would be to give more space, or at least more hiding places as alternatives to the nest boxes. You can add roosts, place an old chair in there, lean a board against the wall, etc… Someone once said: Think hide and seek with a two year old. Make sure none of them can act as a trap for the fleeing bird.
If there’s one bully you can try separating them for a while or giving them pinless peepers to throw them off a bit. Or you can try separating the babies and letting them get a bit bigger before integrating again. If they sit in the nest box all day they don’t get to drink or eat freely, either, so that is a concern beyond getting dirty eggs…

 

[K0k0shka]

Hawks are always a threat, especially so now in the winter (and for the entire winter when food is scarce), so keeping your chickens locked up in a coop all day is not a good solution. Do they not have a run? With that many chickens, you'd need a VERY big coop to meet the coop size recommendations of at least 4 square feet per bird, and even then, those recommendations don't assume extended periods of time spent in the coop. If they're spending full days, multiple days in a row, inside the coop, then you should go with the run recommendations of 10 square feet per chicken, if you want to avoid overcrowding problems. With a mixed age flock, there will always be tension between different generations so they will need even more space to diffuse that tension. Sounds like right now they don't have enough room in there for that tension, and the most timid pullets are hiding from the rest of the flock in the nesting boxes. Spending extended periods of time in a coop makes sense in extreme situations - like there's a big storm outside, or the run got damaged, etc. But a hawk is not an extreme situation, hawks are always present if you live in an area where they exist, so you should build that into your long term plan. You need a predator proof run for the hawks, for days when it's especially dangerous to free range, so the chickens still have outdoor space to spend their days instead of locked in a coop.

 

[Krugerrand]

I added cardboard dividers to my roost bars when the older ones were giving the younger trouble. It gave them a space that the others couldn't see them and would let them be.

 

[Mouthpear]

I have a few pullets (non-egg laying) that keep getting into the laying boxes and crapping around, what would have been, clean eggs. Any ideas or strategies you use to keep them out?

I know you are probably looking for something cheap and easy, well I don't really have that. I mean it's not like it can't be done with ease for a person who is handy and the cost is not really all that much.

Anyhow the idea that I was gonna pitch to you is the same thing the guys at Chicken Caravan do. They use chicken gates. The electronics are simple and the mechanics are too it the individual case by case already built coop that is the issue. Sometimes it's a hassle others, where the person made the nest boxes with removable dividers, it's a breeze.