Getting pullets to sleep on the roosting bar?

[Fentress]

make sure your roost is higher than the nest box. I also agree with others that you should devise a way to block the nest box at night to prevent them from using it. Don't let their bad behavior get established. It won't take that many days to change their behavior and then you can stop blocking the nests. I have had to do that this year. They will learn.

 

[Chris King]

Quote:
Any chance of some photos of their nesting area or nesting boxes? Might be a clue to be seen from afar??

And are your pullets laying yet? I couldn't tell from your post. At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm wondering whether they might not want to go near the nesting boxes because they're not quite ready to lay yet. Should be any day now if not, but it wasn't clear from your post whether they're laying in areas other than their nesting boxes or not laying at all.

-CK-

 

[ghostwolf211]

Are they laying yet??...When I first put mine outside in the coop and run I blocked off the nesting box so they couldn't access it...I unblocked it when I got my first oops egg

 

[chickenlove 123]

They will eventually get it right ,initially it is not uncommon for one or two of the lesser confident pullets to remain in the nesting boxes,especially as the others will already be up on the roost before them,Try holding the more confident ones back just a bit to give the more timid ones the chance to get established on the roosting bar first,failing that you may have to manually put them on a couple of nights until they get the hang of it. They will get there in the end.

 

[vasimoglou]

I agree with the last post. I have a mixed flock, 35 of them are a year old and the other 40 are almost 5 months old. Most, but not all of the newbies roost at night but some choose to sleep in the nesting boxes. I think its really to avoid the pecking that goes on while everyone is finding their spot for the night. Each night I go in and watch the dynamics change. Each night less are sleeping in the nesting boxes and choosing to roost instead. They seem to come out and join the others when they feel they are ready. As for the mess, I have nesting box pads which hose off easily. I simply replace the pads in the morning and hose the dirty ones off.

 

[naadarien]

Any chance of some photos of their nesting area or nesting boxes? Might be a clue to be seen from afar??

And are your pullets laying yet? I couldn't tell from your post. At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm wondering whether they might not want to go near the nesting boxes because they're not quite ready to lay yet. Should be any day now if not, but it wasn't clear from your post whether they're laying in areas other than their nesting boxes or not laying at all.

-CK-

If you click the My Coop link under my avatar, it will take you to the pics I posted of our coop. We pretty much modeled them after the nesting boxes my in-laws made and they don't really have this problem so it never occurred to me that we would.

They have another month or so before they start laying (don't they start around 20-22 weeks?), but I was expecting to some curiosity about the boxes by now but that is not happening.

 

[galenaneal]

At 9 weeks, they are just too young to worry about it. Mine (Ameraucana pullets) didn't start roosting regularily until about 12-15 weeks of age. Before that, they just sleep in a clump on the ground wherever they feel most comfortable. They may be gravitating toward the nesting box to shelter themselves from any kind of draft. The roost needs to be in a windproof area so they can fluff out their feathers and retain body heat as they sleep. Carry on!

 

[lawrencerooney]

I would just cover up the nesting box and they'll soon ajust onto the roosting bar

 

[slatts]

Sounds like the right answer.

I have a slightly different question about nesting boxes. I have my first set of pullets, a dozen, and new coop which i'm building. They are two weeks old and I would like to have them in the coop by next weekend.

I'm about to put in some roosting poles since they are already used to them in their brooder. But I wasn't even going to put in nesting boxes until they are about 16-18 weeks old. Is that wise or do they need to get acquainted with them sooner?

 

[YardBirdCountry]

I had the same issue. Basically once the birds started actually using the nest boxes for laying the problem sorted itself out!

Once they started laying there they tended to stop using it as a toilet!