hens sleeping in the nesting boxes

[jessicayarno]

My hubby (who is no coop expert), designed the inside of my coop. I have had it for almost a yr and am finally getting sick of scooping poop out of the nesting boxes every morning.

I have plenty of room for roosting, so I know that's not the problem. Is there anything I can do to break them of this horrible habit?? Thanks in advance..

 

[NonnasBabies]

Are the roosts higher than the boxes?? If not that could be the problem. I would go out there and remove them every night till they learned or figure some way to cover the boses in the evening!!

 

[BrokenRoadFarm]

Physically place them on the roost bar when it gets dark. They will stay there - they can't see in the dark. It may take a little while, but they should get the point sooner or later. Mine used to sleep in a pile in the corner...took about a week and they all were roosting like they are supposed to. Or you could close off the nest boxes at night and open them up in the morning. Good luck!

 

[jessicayarno]

Some of the roosts are the same height as the nest boxes and the ones that are higher are all taken at night so that might be my problem.. I am going to do some remodeling and maybe it will fix the problem..

 

[Wynette]

Easy peasy - just pop boxes or empty buckets or even wadded up empty feedsacks in the nest boxes each night, but you must remember to remove them first thing the next morning. Do this for about a week, and they'll be out of the habit. Works like a charm.

 

[jessicayarno]

Remodel is done.. We shall see how I did.. I have a wireless camera in there, so I will be putting them on the roosting poles when they start to go in.. I pray to God this works..

 

[simplynewt]

How old are they jessica? You might have to block off the nest boxes as Wynette suggested for a bit until they get the idea. Getting your roosts above the boxes will also be a big improvement to the situation.

Hope it works for ya.

 

[gamelife]

I've had chickens do this before. So I watched them one evening when they're getting ready to roost and saw that they were getting kicked off by the other chickens. I put in another pole and covered the
nest boxes for a few nights. This worked for me.

 

[featherenvy]

This happened to me also, but it was before they were laying and I just closed off the nesting boxes. It worked really well. Now that it has gotten a little colder, I have a few that want to try again. When I go out to put them to bed, I take them out and place on the roosting bars. Always something with those pretty girls.

 

[fireguy56]

HI, Are they actually getting in the boxes or roosting on the lip of the boxes? I had problem with that awhile back, solved it by adding a thin piece of plywood in the shape of a vee to the fronts. No more roosting or poop in boxes. Here is picture.