No, it's a permanent part of the coop - you can see it on my BYC page. I'm thinking they just got freaked that a stranger was in their "space". I'll probably have to leave them in their run at one point this weekend and will put one of my fake eggs in the box and see if the confinement gets...
A few days ago, i lifted the nest box to find a 5' to 6' snake coiled up in one of my nest boxes and it had just supped on one of the eggs. Thinking it was a water moccasin (we have lots of those here!), I had my husband deal with it. I should have known that something was up since 3 of my...