Is roost training necessary? A: Probably not

[gtaus]

I haven't read this entire topic yet, but I'm not following why you'd need to do that?

@aart stated that the hinged cover is removed after dark and the hens are sleeping because some chickens start laying eggs at the crack of dawn. I'm not a crack of dawn type of guy. I get up when I'm ready....

 

[AmyJane725]

@aart stated that the hinged cover is removed before dawn because some chickens start laying eggs at the crack of dawn. I'm not a crack of dawn type of guy. I get up when I'm ready....

I'm with you there.
I guess we need @aart to explain, because I don't get it either.
Why is it a problem if they lay at the crack of dawn? Just because of the egg song noise or something? As far as I'm concerned mine can lay whenever they feel like it. I'm not picky.

 

[Chef JimmyJ]

Aarts system makes sense to me. Closed so the adults all roost and the Kids find another place to sleep.
Open it after all are asleep so the Early Birds can drop their eggs.
The second trip saves from having to get up really early to Uncover the nest boxes for the Early Birds...Am I correct?...JJ

 

[gtaus]

Aarts system makes sense to me. Closed so the adults all roost and the Kids find another place to sleep.
Open it after all are asleep so the Early Birds can drop their eggs.
The second trip saves from having to get up really early to Uncover the nest boxes for the Early Birds...Am I correct?...JJ

That's what I understood.

 

[Ridgerunner]

OK, I seem to understand the reason for tossing the sleeping hen out of the nest box onto the coop floor and giving it a little stress to think about. Just wondering if taking the sleeping hen out of the nest box and placing her on a roost would have the same affect, or not. I'm just thinking that if I have to intervene with a hen sleeping in a nest box, I might just as well show her what I expect her to do - roost on a bar - rather than continue the habit of sleeping on the floor. Would that approach work? Again, my first year with laying hens and still learning a lot.

That's probably what most people would do and it would likely be successful. There are always different ways to do things, find out what works for you.

 

[gtaus]

That's probably what most people would do [toss a hen sleeping in a nest box on to the floor] and it would likely be successful. There are always different ways to do things, find out what works for you.

I have no experience with this issue yet. So I'm just gathering info on options. Ultimately I try things to see if they work for me, or not, and learn and adjust. Lots of good advice on BYC forums has steered me in better ways and I feel I have reduced some of the mistakes I may have made without their input. I'm very grateful to the BYC community for helping me along this process.

 

[aart]

Typo? Why would you want them in the nests? Not following you on that.

Typo?...sure... or just missed the pertinent word don't ...and didn't catch it during proofreading.... ..I fixed it, thanks for pointing it out.

Aarts system makes sense to me. Closed so the adults all roost and the Kids find another place to sleep.
Open it after all are asleep so the Early Birds can drop their eggs.
The second trip saves from having to get up really early to Uncover the nest boxes for the Early Birds...Am I correct?...JJ

Exactly.

Why is it a problem if they lay at the crack of dawn?

It's not a problem if the nets are open
I guess it wouldn't really be a 'problem' if nests got left closed up(it's happened),
but it's better if they are open.