Chickens sleeping in and on the nestboxes

[PeepersMama]

Right now I have 24 chickens, and around half of them refuse to stay on the roost! All but 4 are over a year in age, but the younger girls are actually very obedient and sleepwhere they're supposed to

I think it's because they are wimps and would rather sleep on the significantly lower platform than deal with the "meanies." Some of them, I can understand, but the older, more dominant whites?!?! Me and Mom are done letting them geta away with it. Any advice?

 

[Isaac 0]

How much space is their on the roost?

 

[Pork Pie]

Coop space suggested rule of thumb is 4sqft per bird, roost space 1ft per bird.

If the roosts are higher than the nest boxes, then close off the nest boxes on an evening and open in the morning.

 

[PeepersMama]

Their coop was built when we had 45 birds, so they have more than enough roost space. It is 12x18 ft.
It also has a garage door opener - just had to throw that out there

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I get the impression that the roost bars are lower than the nest boxes since you say that the younger birds use them. If so, the answer is to raise the roost bars so that they are higher than the nest boxes. Birds like to roost at the highest level and the higher ranked birds will usually take the prime spots on the highest roost.

A photo of the interior of your coop might help us figure out other options if that is not the case.

 

[PeepersMama]

The roost is at least a whole foot higher than the nest boxes. Even our most dominant hen will climb off the roost in the dark to sleep in her beloved box

Crazy chickens
I will get a pic tomorow. Right now the boxes have a board on top of them, since we were going to add more boxes, but then we had to cull half the flock (

) and don't need any more. I guess we could slant it. That would probably fix it for the most part, huh? Except for Chiquita Banana

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd say thats a good plan. Chickens hate change, so it may take a while before they accept the new situation

 

[PeepersMama]

Eh, they need to tough it out and get pecked. Me and my sister completely spoiled the EE's rotten when they were chicks. We became "broody mamas" for them when they got sick; we would bring them into the house and let them sleep in our shirts

. NOW all (most) of them want to do when they get pecked is hide under our shirts

Sometimes they will fly onto our heads

But every time they get pecked, it's like, "MOMMY!!! BATGIRL PECKED ME!!! SAVE ME!!!" I love them too much

 

[PeepersMama]

Sorry I haven't posted pics yet. Friday and Saturday were crazy busy, and I wasn't home. For now though, maybe i can give you an idea of what it looks like?

It's 12x18 feet. When you first walk in the door, the boxes are to your left, and the roost runs all the way down the right wall. The roost is almost 4 feet off the ground, and in the middle there's a "step" that they use to get down. The boxes are about 8 inches off the ground. They have six right now; a variation of white storage tubs and five-gallon buckets turned on their sides. On top of them is a board that we were intending on putting more boxes on, but have yet to do that, so they use it as a "stage" during the day. That is what alot of them sleep on, and it gets really gross at night. the boxes don't run the length of the whole wall likethe roost; it takes up the middle third of that side. We keep their feed in a metal trash can that sits right next to the box shelf, so they sleep on that, too.
Hope you all can get an idea of what it looks like from this.

 

[aart]

Need steeply angled boards on top of anything you don't want them to poop on.
Large funnel might work for the feed can.