Need help with roosts in my coop.

[marlene]

A few months ago my son extended my coop for me, we went from a 4x4 to a 12x8. We made use of as much from the old coop as we could, the roosts are one of the things we kept.
I can see from reading on here that the problem i have is that the roosts are at the same level as the nest boxes, so now they go to bed in there instead of the roost and it is a pain as every morning i have to clean all the poop out of the nests and put down clean shavings.
I know that my son can remedy the problem for me if i ask by making the roosts higher than the nest boxes, my concern is that for ventilation i have left a 4-6 inch gap all the way round the coop between the walls and the roof.
My worry will be that they will have a draft almost directly on them if i lift the roosts, my coop is not very high.
Any ideas or possible solutions to my problem? would really appreciate any help you lovely people on byc can give me.

 

[jpsbcfc]

is there a way you could cover the vent at night to stop any draughts?

or is there anyway to lower the nesting boxes to avoid the problem?

 

[marlene]

The vents are all the way around the coop and covered with wire netting to stop predetors, even though i don't get any where i am.
I knew i needed a lot of vents when i built the coop so my way round that was to leave a gap all the way round the coop between the walls and roof.
I don't think there is an easy way to cover all the vents.

 

[bairo]

Do you go out there every morning anyway? If so have him put a cover on the front of the nest boxes. Hinge it at the bottom so it swings down out of the way and just hangs there during the day. Even if you move your roosts up now, they are hard to break once they get used to sleeping in the boxes. Locking them out at least for a while is probably the only sure fire solution. They will automatically go to the roosts and eventually get used to that instead.

 

[marlene]

Quote:
Yes i do go out first thing in the morning and a few other times in the day.
I was thinking of covering the nest boxes as a solution but my worry on doing that is sometimes when i go to let them out 1 or 2 hens have already laid, are they likely to wait till the nests are opened in the morning or will i be causing further problems for myself if they start to lay on the coop floor?

 

[scooter147]

I close my nest boxes each night. I have a the same couple hens that try every night to roost in them. The funny thing is as soon as I open the door to walk in they stick their heads out of the boxes and seem to say "oh shoot, it's the mean guy" and immediately come out and go to the proper bed.
To your question. On the weekends I don't go out at day break either I may get their an hour or two after sun up and rarely do I have an egg on the coop floor. As soon as I do open the nests if a hen is ready to lay they go right in.

 

[marlene]

Quote:
I was hoping some one would say the would probably wait till i open the nest boxes and not start poping eggs out on the floor lol.
In that case i will probably get my son to put some sort of cover that i can open up on the nest boxes.
Any ideas on how he could make these and how we would hinge them up during the day?

 

[scooter147]

What are they made of?

 

[marlene]

They are made out of wood.

 

[scooter147]

I would hinge at the bottom with a hook and eye at the top. Then just "lay" them open during the day.
Or you could just cut a piece of wood that fits over the entire box with hook and eyes at both ends and put up at dusk. It doesn't have to be anything really strong, once covered the hens won't try to enter.