Hens dump bedding and nests out the door!

[Acre4Me]

Your coop looks nice for 4 hens. Did your son help you build it?

are they hanging out in the coop due to weather? If so, they might be bored and as chickens, they scratch. instead of scratching the grass and dirt, they are scratching through the bedding. If this is the case, are you able to cover the top and partial sides of the enclosed run, first 5 feet, perhaps? This would give them outside space even in not great weather and provide protection from the weather.

dust baths are good to have. If you provide them one in a tub, know that you’ll be replenishing it as they will scratch and bathe with vigor! Recommended things to mix into the dust bath are: sand, peat moss, light dirt, wood ash, sawdust- any combination of this to achieve a light mix. if you always move the tractor between the same few spots, it might be easier to create in ground dust baths in these locations. Of course you don’t want pits of dirt around your grassy lawn, but if you are putting their tractor near the edges of the lawn it could work.

glad your son loves his chickens!

 

[Ridgerunner]

My set-up is totally different from yours but what comes to mind immediately is that mine keep the area around the feeder scratched pretty bare. They spill feed and scratch the area, looking for it. The bedding builds up pretty deep at the far walls. Every now and then I rake it to spread it back around. This is probably not it unless you've changed the way they are fed, but with a 4-year-old it might be worth checking out.

Building on that thought, how would it work for you to toss some scratch in that area so they are spreading it for you? You may soon be complaining that the area is bare and the bedding i building up in other places. Probably not a good solution, hard to find the right balance.

It's not normal for something to change dramatically after eight months without something driving it. You don't say where you are but it is winter there. Perhaps the weather is keeping them in the coop section much more than normal so it is boredom. To me the best boredom buster is more room. If snow or a cold wind keeping them inside is the problem, maybe using wind blocks to stop a cold wind or tarps to keep snow out of the run are your best choices.

Good luck!