Chicken sleeping in the nesting boxes!

[shannonRUMSBY]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop chickens from sleeping in their nesting boxes?! She always sleeps in the far left one, so I've tried putting empty egg boxes in there to put her off. But when I checked this morning there was poo on top of the boxes, so I'm guessing she's sleeping on the boxes now! Should I block off the nesting boxes completely at night time?

 

[Judy]

Welcome to our forum!

That would probably be a good idea, if your schedule lets you close them at night and open them again in the morning.

If your nests are higher than your roost, they will probably choose them because they like to sleep in the highest place available Another possibility is that your roost bar is too narrow; they are more comfortable on something wider, like the wide side of a 2x4 or a good, fat branch. Another thing you could check is ventilation on the roost; there needs to be a way for humidity and ammonia to escape from the coop at a high point in the coop. A draft might also bother them but probably only in cold weather.

Those are just guesses -- not knowing anything about your setup, none of them may be any good. Also, if they are young, they may simply never have learned to sleep on a roost, and all it will take is setting them on it each night for a week or so. If they aren't laying yet, just close them off and leave them closed til closer to point of lay.