How to get hens to quit roosting i. The laying boxes at night

[blackwhite]

3 of my hens roost on the edge of my laying boxes and fill them with poo how can I detour them from roosting there?

 

[azygous]

Block them off at night. I had this problem with some recent pullets of mine that were too timid to buck the nightly competition for roosting space on the perches so they perched on the nest boxes. I blocked the nests with a fencing section. It took about a month of daily barricading the nests to get the pullets to be brave enough to compete for space on the perches.

It also helped when I installed dividers on the twelve-foot long perch. This greatly reduced the conflict, and less brave chickens had more opportunity to find a safe spot where they wouldn't be pecked by a more aggressive bird when they tried to settle for the night.