Chickens sleeping in nesting boxes?

[ChickCrazyWorryWort]

In the past I've had to teach some of my chicks how to roost. It's easy just to stay on the ground in a cozy nesting box. The problem is they'll stay in there and poop, making a mess of your eggs.
Every night after dark go out there and take them out of the nesting box and put them up on the roost, repeat until they stay. Make sure your roosting bars are as high as possible.If you have crowded conditions, consider

In the past I've had to teach some of my chicks how to roost. It's easy just to stay on the ground in a cozy nesting box. The problem is they'll stay in there and poop, making a mess of your eggs.
Every night after dark go out there and take them out of the nesting box and put them up on the roost, repeat until they stay. Make sure your roosting bars are as high as possible.If you have crowded conditions, consider making your house bigger.

making your house bigger.

Thank you. Every night so far I’v had to put our 2 newer birds in the coop, the other 2 go right in by themselves and always have. Do you think when I go out to put the other 2 in I can just sit them on the roost and then move the ones that are already in on the roost? Will they stay?

 

[ChickCrazyWorryWort]

I'm pretty sure I have that same coop, the roosting area is pretty small. I blocked off the nest boxes for now because mine are only 9 weeks old in that coop. I also installed a roost running parallel to the boxes up higher and added hardware cloth where the plastic window in the little door was originally. I still think it needs more ventilation though. My thoughts on no sleeping in the nest boxes is just keeps them clean. You could make a cardboard partition at night until they start using the roost.

I was thinking about adding wood to the roosting bars where they sit in the notches to elevate them a little more. The adding a higher roosting bar is a good idea, thank you! I think I’ll try that as well because it will also be longer than the others and just give them more options/room. My window has chicken wire on the inside so I just keep it open along with the vent in the back above the nesting boxes.

 

[Justso]

Thank you. Every night so far I’v had to put our 2 newer birds in the coop, the other 2 go right in by themselves and always have. Do you think when I go out to put the other 2 in I can just sit them on the roost and then move the ones that are already in on the roost? Will they stay?

I'm not sure if they'll stay. Memory tells me I had to lift those darn chicks up every night for weeks. In reality it was probably only about 5 days or so and then they got the hang of roosting on the bar. You have to wait until it's dark and everybody's settled, then make the correction.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Definitely look into fixing the roosts so they sit higher - as it is, they're practically floor level, and not appealing to chickens.

Good example of raising the roosts in a prefab: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-in-nest-boxes.1134399/page-2#post-17749535

No you shouldn't let them sleep in nest boxes, unless you don't care about the eggs being pooped on or needing to constantly clean the nests boxes to remove poop build up.

 

[ChickCrazyWorryWort]

Thank you everyone! Will definitely try some of these ideas! Hopefully something will work. Just want my baby’s to be as happy as possible! Thank you again!

 

[Jenna Claire]

In the past I've had to teach some of my chicks how to roost. It's easy just to stay on the ground in a cozy nesting box. The problem is they'll stay in there and poop, making a mess of your eggs.
Every night after dark go out there and take them out of the nesting box and put them up on the roost, repeat until they stay. Make sure your roosting bars are as high as possible.If you have crowded conditions, consider making your house bigger.