Chickens sleeping in nesting boxes! Need help!

[DaisyG2317]

I hung a piece of hardware cloth over mine for about 2 weeks to keep them out.

 

[Chicalina]

I've got the same issue with my hen taking her chicks in there at night. And don't they poop it up quick! I blocked it off with a sheet of rigid plastic. Job done. She is now snuggling with them on the floor. Wish she would teach them to roost already!

 

[aart]

I rigged a hinged nest cover during one batch of stubborn chicks.
Easy peasy, close it down an hour before roost time, open back up when I lock up after dark(so I don't have to get up early).

 

[Chicalina]

I rigged a hinged nest cover during one batch of stubborn chicks.
Easy peasy, close it down an hour before roost time, open back up when I lock up after dark(so I don't have to get up early).

I like your thinking!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree photos could help. Can they easily get up and down from those roosts? How old are they, are these two laying yet. Do you have other chickens? Are the others laying yet? Other chickens can be part of the problem. How long have they been sleeping in the nests? When did they start? Could you describe what was going n when they started?

From what you describe this should not be happening but it is. There is a reason this is happening. If we can figure out the why solving it may be easier.

 

[Owenp_2]

I agree photos could help. Can they easily get up and down from those roosts? How old are they, are these two laying yet. Do you have other chickens? Are the others laying yet? Other chickens can be part of the problem. How long have they been sleeping in the nests? When did they start? Could you describe what was going n when they started?

From what you describe this should not be happening but it is. There is a reason this is happening. If we can figure out the why solving it may be easier.

All of them are a year old or nearly a year old. They are all laying (that I know of). They can all access each roosts (because I have seen them do it before). Yes there are 4 more chickens besides them. It started about a month ago and I was waiting for them to stop but that never happened. I want to say that they started when one of my chickens that we recently put down a few days ago got "sick" and I think they tried to avoid being within a 4 foot radius (they are divas considering the chicken was just pecked in the eye and had trouble eating).

 

[Ridgerunner]

So no juveniles and all are laying. That blows one of my theories out of the water. You said in an earlier post that some of the roosts are higher than the nests so that's not the problem. It would be interesting to know how separated those higher roosts are. Protos might still help.

It started when one was injured. Was the injured at the top of the pecking order? One possibility is that the pecking order changed and those two were being beat up on the higher roosts, so they looked for a safer place to sleep. I've had hen's leave their normal roosting spot to attack juveniles on the far end of the roosts to the point that the juveniles started sleeping somewhere else. Juveniles are automatically at the bottom of the pecking order. Maybe these two are also.

So what can you do? It's possible they have just gotten in the habit of sleeping in those nest as the pecking order was being rearranged. Blocking the nests so they can't sleep in there but opening them back up so they can lay in there may work. It will be interesting to see where they decide to sleep.

I don't do that when I have juveniles do that. It's really dark in my coop at night so I just toss them on the coop floor when I find one sleeping in a nest as I lock up for the night. It's too dark for them to find their way back. Many people try setting them on the roosts instead of tossing them on the coop floor. That can work too, especially if the pecking order is now resettled and they are no longer getting beat up as they go to bed or if the new roost is separated from the bullies. My goal is not to teach them where to sleep, it's to teach them where not to sleep.

This is just one theory, I don't know what is really going in with yours. Good luck solving it.

 

[sourland]

I don't do that when I have juveniles do that. It's really dark in my coop at night so I just toss them on the coop floor when I find one sleeping in a nest as I lock up for the night. It's too dark for them to find their way back. Many people try setting them on the roosts instead of tossing them on the coop floor. That can work too, especially if the pecking order is now resettled and they are no longer getting beat up as they go to bed or if the new roost is separated from the bullies. My goal is not to teach them where to sleep, it's to teach them where not to sleep.

This is just one theory, I don't know what is really going in with yours. Good luck solving it.

I like this approach.

 

[Owenp_2]

So no juveniles and all are laying. That blows one of my theories out of the water. You said in an earlier post that some of the roosts are higher than the nests so that's not the problem. It would be interesting to know how separated those higher roosts are. Protos might still help.

It started when one was injured. Was the injured at the top of the pecking order? One possibility is that the pecking order changed and those two were being beat up on the higher roosts, so they looked for a safer place to sleep. I've had hen's leave their normal roosting spot to attack juveniles on the far end of the roosts to the point that the juveniles started sleeping somewhere else. Juveniles are automatically at the bottom of the pecking order. Maybe these two are also.

So what can you do? It's possible they have just gotten in the habit of sleeping in those nest as the pecking order was being rearranged. Blocking the nests so they can't sleep in there but opening them back up so they can lay in there may work. It will be interesting to see where they decide to sleep.

I don't do that when I have juveniles do that. It's really dark in my coop at night so I just toss them on the coop floor when I find one sleeping in a nest as I lock up for the night. It's too dark for them to find their way back. Many people try setting them on the roosts instead of tossing them on the coop floor. That can work too, especially if the pecking order is now resettled and they are no longer getting beat up as they go to bed or if the new roost is separated from the bullies. My goal is not to teach them where to sleep, it's to teach them where not to sleep.

This is just one theory, I don't know what is really going in with yours. Good luck solving it.

The sick one was at the bottom of the pecking order. This post is about two weeks old and they have gotten better about sleeping on one of the lower roosts. I am not sure where they stand on the pecking order but I know they get along with all the other chickens fine.