My six chickens all sleeping in one next box

[cjpines]

Hi everyone, I have 6, 11 week old pullets. At night instead of roosting they all get into one foot square nesting box and sleep all piled up together. Does anyone know why they do this?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A couple reasons. They all like to huddle at night regardless of ambient temperature. At 11 weeks, they may not have gotten the urge to roost yet. When they begin to roost, they like to go to the highest point. If the roosts aren't significantly higher than the nests, they'll continue to sleep in the nest.
The last reason is that you haven't blocked off the nests. I keep them blocked until the birds are 16 weeks of age.

 

[FamFitz]

I don't know why, but I read that you should block off the nesting boxes until they get close to laying. That way they get use to sleeping on the roost instead. Otherwise it can lead to problems (over crowding, unsanitary, broken eggs, etc.) in the nesting boxes. I saw a picture of someone using empty egg cartons; she just stacked several in each box so they couldn't get in there.

 

[Sarevan]

Our silly 9 BO pullets are doing the samething, they make a pile in a corner and sleep. They have a roost bar 18" high made from a 2x4, another that is 3' high, besides a log with the twisty branches on it. They play on the log in the day don't even go near the roosts.

After dusk I have gone out and put them on the low roost, but they always hop down after about a 1/2 hour and pile in the corner. Hoping they start getting the hang of it soon, in dog crate they used to like sleeping on the stick in there. Since in the coop/run they acting like idiots.

 

[donrae]

What Canoe said. Babies don't always roost yet, but they're powerful creatures of habit and sleeping in a nest box should be prevented.

 

[seann]

When my chickens were that age, they cuddled up on their first few weeks out by themselves in their new coop (from brooder).
Now (they are 16 weeks) they use the roost.

How long ago since you moved them to their coop?

 

[mortie]

Block off the nest box unless you have older chickens in there too that want to use it. They will likely continue to sleep on the ground for a while. Mine are 8 weeks old and about half of them roost at night. Once one starts, the rest will follow. Each night I check and more and more are up there. You could go out and put them on the roost but I'm sure they'll get the idea. I tried that once but they just hopped down and I decided to just let them do their thing and they figured it out on their own just fine. Since I have no older chickens, I blocked off my nest box until they're older.

 

[Wol1]

My 9 did that last year. All nine in one box. Eventually they spilled into a second box. I put them on the roost a few nights. One of them had a light bulb moment and the rest followed. Blocking off the boxes sounds easier.

 

[cjpines]

We blocked off the nest boxes..They cuddled together in a corner. At least they are not crowding each other.

 

[cjpines]

We blocked off the nest boxes, that seems the easiest way to go until they are older.