Do your hens sleep in the nesting boxes?

[Mvan42]

Ok so I just looked at the pictures. How many birds and exactly how big is your coop. Those small prefab coops are nice but small and not much space to roost. I have had two one similar and on a little larger. If the one in the link is similar to what you have and you have more than 2 birds they are over crowded. The roost in those are not big enough to home more than two roosting birds.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

the prefer higher places.

The coop is pretty simple, the roosts and boxes are around the same level, but the chicks sleep on them so they like it

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Ok so I just looked at the pictures. How many birds and exactly how big is your coop. Those small prefab coops are nice but small and not much space to roost. I have had two one similar and on a little larger. If the one in the link is similar to what you have and you have more than 2 birds they are over crowded. The roost in those are not big enough to home more than two roosting birds.

2 hens and 3 tiny chicks. I don't know the exact measurements of the coop.
It may seem over crowded in the pic but it is not, there is plenty of space and the hens only like one half of the coop. the chicks are way off on the other side! The roof is taller than the picture so there is lots of room to roost since there are more bars than that one in the pic.
I don't mind them sleeping there anyway, I just wanted you to know that the coop is fine.
Thanks for your reply anyway

 

[PippinTheChicken]

they do roost sometimes during the day for a few minutes

 

[3KillerBs]

I have 3 up on the roost and two on the floor.

It's possible that the Brahma doesn't have enough room to fly up (or enough flying capability -- I've never seen her achieve more than 18" of air since she reached laying age). I don't know why the SLW sleeps on the floor next to her Brahma friend.

As long as they're not in the nest boxes I'm OK with their choices.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

My two big Cochins and a Brahma with Bumblefoot always used to sleep on the floor. The Cochins were killed by predators and once they were gone my brahma girl went back to the roost bars. I think some chickens just don’t want to roost. As long as they are healthy and you’re not worried about poopy eggs, there’s no need to worry.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Typical issue with prefabs is the roosts are too low, so chickens aren't interested in using them.

If you don't care that they're sleeping in nests, then you can leave things as is. I don't allow mine to do that because I don't want to clean out nest boxes.

 

[neo71665]

Roosts too low, not enough room, and not enough ventilation. I wouldn't give $40 for that tiny dog house much less $600 (my exchange rate is rusty but still bet it's within +/- $100).

They prolly sitting on the floor/nests because they are suffocating up higher. Won't be much longer they will refuse to even go in it.

Everybody hates to hear it after they threw money away but buying a prefab is just that.

 

[BDutch]

I made an extension to my old small prefab coop when I had my first offspring.
This was light and airy and turned out as a much better roosting area for them.
The chickens and chicks moved in the extension themselves. And only went back to the small coop one day when I was still cleaning their coop at roosting time. The next day they roosted in the extension as usual again.

It’s true that most prefabs are small, have not enough ventilation , sometimes not even a window for natural light, roosts are often too low and they often have too many nest boxes. The roosts should be higher as the nesting boxes to please most chickens.

Another thing that might be a problem is social interaction. Pecking order can be harsh for some chickens. I had one pullet that started to sleep in a nestbox for that reason. Other hens bullied her when she wanted to roost. I tried to put her on the roost with the others for quite some time. And after this failure, on a roost in the old small coop. But she got company there too that bullied her. I finally gave up. It was not because she was stubborn, but because she feared the others and felt safer in the nest box.
It needed time to heal (mentally). One day she finally slept on a roost in the small coop a few weeks after I made second higher roost for her in the small coop. End of problems.

Last winter the flock dynamics changed because my oldest hen disappeared. And ever since (until I had two broodies) the whole flock roosts in the extension. She moved in there by herself.

Now one nestbox is taken by 2 mommy’s and 3 chicks.

If it was my coop I would add some space, light, hwc ventilation, another higher roost. The roost bars on the bottom are quit strange imo. Do you have these in you’re coop too?

A wooden coop is easy to adjust with some building materials.
Make a few pics of the coop inside when the chickens are in and ask for some clever advices.

 

[Mvan42]

Pictures of your coop is better than posting a link. You said yours was similar.