Getting the girls out of nesting box at night

[aart]

@aart has a system where she locks the nests up before roost time to force them to find somewhere else to sleep. Then when she locks them up at night after dark she opens the nests back up. That way she avoids teaching the ones that want to lay at the crack of dawn to lay somewhere else.

Hacked and slashed, so it's ugly but it works.

 

[chickenthyme]

How far does that bar stick out? The roost should be about a foot away from a vertical surface.

You are only talking about two chickens and maybe for a month or so. Once they start to lay they should move to the main roosts if you have room. Can you put a roosting bar maybe 2' long sticking out from a wall of the coop. Maybe hang one from the ceiling, think of a trapeze but with wooden hangers so it is fairly stable. I can't see how it is framed or how hard that might be.

It probably only sticks out maybe 6 or 7 inches. The nesting boxes are at one end of the coop with probably less than a foot on either side. Roost is opposite wall taking up that one wall. Posting another picture. Suppose to be panoramic but it's

distorted looking. Picture is taken at entrance door into coop.

 

[chickenthyme]

Hacked and slashed, so it's ugly but it works.

Thanks for the idea!

 

[aart]

It probably only sticks out maybe 6 or 7 inches. The nesting boxes are at one end of the coop with probably less than a foot on either side. Roost is opposite wall taking up that one wall. Posting another picture.

Do the birds use the top roost?
It looks rather close to the wall, should be around a 12" away.
Maybe flip the whole thing around, top to bottom...or pull bottom out farther.
...or make that into two roosts...or somehow add a divider.
Or cover the nests.
Just thinking.

 

[chickenthyme]

Do the birds use the top roost?
It looks rather close to the wall, should be around a 12" away.
Maybe flip the whole thing around, top to bottom...or pull bottom out farther.
...or make that into two roosts...or somehow add a divider.
Or cover the nests.
Just thinking.

Yes the big girls use the top roost and my other set of chickens I had used this top roost too. I don't think it's as close to the wall as it looks. Picture is definitely distorted. I had a divider on it but one of big girls thought it was her private sleeping area. I will probably try closing off nest boxes at night.

 

[Criticalicious]

I'm a bit of a micro manager - I would have kicked the big girl out of the private space. After one or two tries they get the idea that it isn't for them.