My kids are 13 weeks old. Half will sleep on the roost (which is higher than the boxes but only slightly) the rest sleep(and even hang out in the daytime) on the edge of the nest boxes. This wooden "front" is a 2 x 6 on edge. Maybe cause the roost is a 2 x 4 with the 4 inch side up? I read everywhere they would do better wide side up and half my girls dont like it. What to do? I have even gone in every night for the last 2 weeks after dark and moved them. I covered it with a tarp too and they just sneak under it. Im outta ideas. I dont want them doing this come time to lay eggs.
I put a bucket inside the nest box every night for about 2 or 3 weeks until they stopped sleeping in there. Took it out in the AM. They did not seem interested in sleeping in there about the same time they started laying.
I use empy milk containers....filled with gravel and put them in there every night. they catch on after a few days/weeks. If you don't have any laying right now you could leave the jugs in the boxes. good luck!
I have separate coops for my adolescents and my adult hens. They all free range the entire back yard together. We had the adolescents in temporary tractor until we could get them a very large coop of their own. My adults were all laying in their own nesting boxes until we replaced the tractor with the new coop, and most of them still are. However, my easter egger has begun laying eggs UNDER the nesting boxes in the new coop, lol!
I use cardboard boxes every night for about a week. I take them out of the nests first thing in the morning and put them back in there at night . . . This will retrain them to the roost, BUT if your roost is lower than your nest boxes.. . . they will continue to try to lay in the boxes after you stop using the cardboard boxes.
I blocked off my nest boxes with a sheet of hardware cloth until 16 weeks. Never had a bird in there except to lay eggs.
I was just about to post this same question. Peeked in my coop window after securing everybody for the night . Looked around and low and behold I spotted all six of my10 week old Rodies tucked into their nesting boxes! Because I used 5 gallon pails as nesting boxes, i'll just put the covers on them untill the girls are ready for laying!
Quote:They may not like the bigger side yet because they are not full grown yet. I say "give them what they like" and in a month try the bigger side again - - if you want to. However, All of my perches are 2" wide and my flock seems to do just fine on them - - -even the full grown rooster. I use 2 x2's , not 2 x 4's, for my roosts.
