How to stop her sleeping and pooping in the nest box?

[gottaknit]

I know it's been asked before, but I wasn't paying attention.

I adopted a hen this summer, but she won't roost with my other three hens. She sits in the nest box instead, and I wouldn't mind except for all the poop.

How can I discourage this? Do I need to provide her with her *own* roost? I know she roosted at her old house, so this is clearly just her and the other chickens not wanting to be too close to each other.

 

[portlandpeeps]

hey gottaknit,

sounds like we have similar situations. We also have a playhouse coop for our 4 hens. Adopted two pullets this year and one (a black cochin) sits in the nest box a lot and poops. The other hens pick on her and she tries to avoid their pecking her feathers out by either sitting in a nest box or in the food bucket... where she also poops. I haven't figured out what to do with her besides turning her into roasted chicken.