How to get 10 weekers to stop roosting on nest box **Pics Added**

[cmom]

Are they roosting in the boxes or on top of the boxes? Mine did both. To get them to stop sleeping in the boxes I put milk crates in my boxes in the evenings for about a week and took them out in the morning. Also I put some roosts higher up. They stopped sleeping in and on the nest boxes.

 

[Lolliegee]

Here are the pics I promised earlier...hope you can see well enough, it was just starting to get dark when I took them.

As you can see by the pics, I don't have a lot of space. I designed it to fit in the existing dog run on the side of our house. When I designed it, I tried to make it as space efficient as possible (I realize now that I didn't need quite so many boxes, but live and learn). We have since added to the run, so they've got 50 more feet behind where I'm standing when I'm taking the pics, but this is still the best protected place for the coop.

Of course, they all had to jump down to see what I was doing, but you can still get a good idea of where they're roosting.

Ducks came out from underneath the coop to see what all the commotion was.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

We had the same problem with our babies when we moved them to the coop at 14 weeks. The older Leghorns would peck them when they got up on the roost too, and that made it worse. So for about 4 weeks, we would out to the coop just before dark and put cardboard over the nest boxes so they couldn't get into them, and then come out in the morning while it was still dark and remove the cardboard. We also cut the front end of the next boxes into a V shape, so it would be a little less comfortable to roost on. When we first began, occasionally we had to put one of them up on the roosts too. After about 4 weeks we didn't have to do that any more, and we haven't had a problem since.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

It looks to me that you have a space issue. The addition of your juveniles means that more roosting space is needed. You need 8" of roosting space per bird and you have what looks like 11 birds, that means 88" across of space (7' 4"). IMHO, the easiest thing to do would be to add another roost pole either higher or lower than the first existing one.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure if you have enough roost length or not. 8" per chicken is the minimum recommendation for your sized birds. I counted 10 chickens and your coop is probably 8' long, so you should have enough. If you have the roost length, I'd suggest putting a top of the nesting boxes and lock them out when they finish laying. Make it slanted to keep them off or with enough of an overhang that they can't mess the nest.

If you don't have enough roost length, it gets trickier. It looks like you are feeding and watering in the back of your coop, so you don't have room to add more roosts back there. Some things to think about. Possibly move your nesting boxes outside the coop and provide more roosting area. Your climate will determine if this is feasible and how you would design them. Or consider feeding and watering outside to free up more room for more roosts. Again, climate will detemine if this is feasible.

A more radical possibility may be to move the nesting boxes under the existing roosts and put enough of a top so they don't mess in the nest, locking them out of the nests until they are retrained, and providing more roosting area where the nests now are.

The one I'd give strong consideration to is to put a top on the nesting boxes, extending out far enough so they can't mess the nest from above, lock them out, but make sure they have enough headroom to roost immediately above the nesting boxes or preferably out more toward the middle of the coop. You may need to scrape the poop off the top of the nesting boxes more often than you want to, but that is good concentrated nitrogen for your compost heap.

Hopefully, someone will come up with better suggestions. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[buffkota]

Hi! If you can get to your nest box from the outside, I just pushed mine out of there for about 3 times and she hasn't been roosting in there since. I thought it was a broody hen at first, but she was never in there during the day. HOpe you find a solution!

 

[Lolliegee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm gonna go with the easiest thing first. I covered them with boards today after the hens had done their laying for the day. I plan to go out there and remove them before I go to bed. (I'm much better at staying up late than getting up early!) I also will be moving the existing roost up and adding another. I hadn't intended to have quite so many chickens, but you know how one thing leads to another.

The food is in the coop for now, but I water them outside. Since I live in rainy Oregon, I need to figure a good way to keep food dry, but let them eat outside. Now that we've got ducks too, I want to keep all their food in one central location.

I'll update once I see if the boards are going to work.

Thanks again!

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Yes, we know... where is chickens anonymous when you need it??

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Quote:
Oh there are CA (chickens anonymous) meetings all over the place! Didn't you know? The only problem is they get turned into chicken swaps or full blown fairs! "You have what kind of chicken? It lays what color eggs?

I HAVE TO GET THOSE TOO!"

 

[Lolliegee]