Hen suddenly sleeping in nesting box - should I move her?

[Judy]

fatguyaz, cover the nest boxes at dusk and uncover in the AM, or remove them from the coop if that is simpler. Might have to put them on the roosts too. Another thought, my younger ones roosted somewhere different from the older ones for probably a year before they moved to the regular roost. I suspect it was to avoid pecking. If you lay a board across the milk crates, they might want to sleep there.

 

[fatguyaz]

Good idea, since they're not laying at night anyway. I was thinking about taking the boxes out of the henhouse and putting them in a covered area of their yard... anyone have any words of advice for or against?

 

[ScotianChick]

I have one I move a lot. She's anti-social so I suspect that's the reason for this one doing it. Some nights I have to move her, some nights I don't.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Or put something slick and slanted over the crates so no one can roost there.

 

[swimmer]

Quote:
OK now my newness to chickens is showing. I thought broody meant they were sitting on eggs. There are no eggs in the nesting box and they do not free range. There was no egg this morning in the box that she was in last night. I did get a green egg in another box today but not sure if it was her or the other EE.

Sandee

I had one go broody when I had golf balls in the nest boxes. She would lay on them for hours.

 

[Kaceyx73]

For you folks with hens sleeping in the nest boxes....

No guarantees that this is the problem in all cases, but worth looking into. Give then some light to find their way back up. It seems to me, at least in the ones I have dealt with so far, that with that tendency to get fussy over roosting spots comes the inevitable hen knocked off the roost. They don't see well in the dark and cant find their way back onto the bars. They sleep up high to feel safe, and lacking that will find something to sleep under, usually a nest box. If you find one in the nest box after dark, shine a light in the coop so she can see to find her way. If she goes up on her own, then try using a tap light or other cheap light in the coop while they sort out their differences. Once they've settled down after dark, you can turn it back off. Its usually about an hour after dark when I lock them up, so the light being on until then has solved that problem for now.

I did have a couple wandering around in the pen the other night after dark. I opened the coop and shined the light and up they went. Apparently they didn't get in before dark, which is weird. Maybe a couple were getting into it and they left the coop temporarily, only to not be able to get back in....

Anyway, try the light and see if that might be the issue. Good luck!

 

[LeezyBeezy]

My four youngsters from this past May all sleep in the nesting boxes. We have a total of three roosts, which each of the two older hens claiming one each (they rarely roost together). We put up a third roost for the little girls to use- nothing doing!

I take them out of the boxes, put them on the roost, and somehow the get back into the boxes. The nest boxes are dirty, but it's so cold out here, that I will let it slide this winter. After that, I'm having hubby put some sort of a "piano" type lid so I can close them up at night.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Quote:
You could place a sheet of wood or cardboard over the crates so that the poo won't get inside... that's what I did for a while before I had my permanent boxes installed.