Nest Box Abandonment

[BarredCometLaced]

For three years, my three hens have reliably laid their eggs in one of our two nest boxes. They never touched the second box, always choosing nest box A. Well, a few days ago, one of our chickens decided that she wanted to sleep in the nest box. As a result, after three years of reliable laying, all three of our hens are laying in the back corner of the coop

What can I do to A: stop our chicken from sleeping/soiling the nest box at night, and B: get them to start laying in the nest again?

 

[silkiechick101]

To get them to lay in the box again you can get a nest egg. (sold at a local feed store) They are basically a ceramic egg that you put in the nesting box to get the chickens to lay where you want them to. You can probably get the hen to stop sleeping in the nesting box by taking her out of the box after they have gone into the coop. (preferably when it's dark) Set the hen on the perch with the other hens. She should be half asleep by then and not want to move back. If she continues to sleep in there, you can always block the nesting boxes off for the night. I hope this helps.