nesting box problems?

[Dan Davis]

We need some advice.

We have 17 hens, the dominant 5 have the lower 12 sleeping on the floor of the coop/in the nesting boxes. How can I rectify this situation so the nesting boxes will be used as intended? The coop is 6' x 8'. The hens are 4.5 mo. We have been unsuccessful in breaking this habit in the 2 stage transition from brooder to this coop. The brooder had roost options, but we suspect the pecking order kept many chicks off the roost. The temporary coop had plenty of roost area, but again roughly half slept on the floor, a continuation of the pecking order??

Now they are in their permanent coop, and I am concerned this learned behavior has impacted the nesting box purpose/area.

I have seriously considered upgrading to a reversible roll-away nesting box from Hengear, and adding more roosting opportunities. This upgrade would require some modifications, so I am open to suggestions on that as well.

 

[CluckerFamily]

You could block off the nesting boxes.
I personally would go into the coop at night and reorganize the one on the roost and put the others on the roost.

 

[DobieLover]

We need some advice.

We have 17 hens, the dominant 5 have the lower 12 sleeping on the floor of the coop/in the nesting boxes. How can I rectify this situation so the nesting boxes will be used as intended? The coop is 6' x 8'. The hens are 4.5 mo. We have been unsuccessful in breaking this habit in the 2 stage transition from brooder to this coop. The brooder had roost options, but we suspect the pecking order kept many chicks off the roost. The temporary coop had plenty of roost area, but again roughly half slept on the floor, a continuation of the pecking order??

Now they are in their permanent coop, and I am concerned this learned behavior has impacted the nesting box purpose/area.

I have seriously considered upgrading to a reversible roll-away nesting box from Hengear, and adding more roosting opportunities. This upgrade would require some modifications, so I am open to suggestions on that as well.

View attachment 2721746

The coop is too small for the number of birds you have and there isn't enough roost space. You need about a foot per bird and that can be pushing it if they don't all get along.
The coop also looks to be severely lacking in ventilation.

 

[blackdog043]

Make more roost space. If you can make that roost longer, put up a divider or two along the roost. This way, they can't see all of them roosting on the same bars. You could use cardboard, to give it a try or hang some material, old towel.... I saw this done on here awhile back.

 

[3KillerBs]

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop,
• 10 square feet in the run,
• 1 linear foot of roost,
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

For 17 chickens you need 68 square feet of space in the coop but have only 48 square feet. Crowding causes many social problems because the dominant birds feel the need to defend the scarce resource territory more vigorously than if they had generous space available.

You also need at least 17 linear feet of roost -- or more if your chickens are especially large or particularly territorial -- and in larger flocks it's best to have it arranged in such a way that subgroups can roost separately and so that subordinate birds can get to the roost without having to pass within pecking distance of the dominant birds.

 

[Acre4Me]

We use a ladder roost. We also don’t adhere to the recommended space requirements either (but still plenty of room in the coop and 2x rec.space in the run). However, SPACE really does help tremendously, of course! So, making sure there is enough linear feet of roost space, plus some extra can go a long way to help your issue. The top roost in our coop is approx 6’ in length. But, most of the time, there are 9 chickens on it, including the rooster. We have 5 rungs to our ladder roost. But, younger chicks getting introduced still often sleep in a group on the floor for a week, sometimes up to a month or two…then they get closer to laying and they are all on the roosts.

cover/block off the nest boxes. We replaced our nest boxes last year, and incorporated a cover to easily use bc lower pecking order chickens will retreat to the nest boxes if they are available.

the idea of roost blinds can help. Sometimes the lower ones simply need to be out of sight of the higher pecking order ones.

Last, not yet mentioned, but until they start to lay, the younger ones will be their own group and not fully accepted, and will be lower in the pecking order.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

We have 17 hens, the dominant 5 have the lower 12 sleeping on the floor of the coop/in the nesting boxes. How can I rectify this situation so the nesting boxes will be used as intended? The coop is 6' x 8'

The coop is way too small for 17 chickens. Either cull 1/2 the flock or build a bigger coop.

 

[aart]

Yep, tight space......unless, you have a large weather and predator proof run.

I would rework the roosts and nests tho.
Make the nests so you can cover them easily and they can perch on the sides.

 

[NatJ]

We have 17 hens, the dominant 5 have the lower 12 sleeping on the floor of the coop/in the nesting boxes. How can I rectify this situation so the nesting boxes will be used as intended?

Can you add another roost?

You would want it far enough away that a hen on one roost cannot peck a hen on the new roost.

 

[Dan Davis]

You could block off the nesting boxes.
I personally would go into the coop at night and reorganize the one on the roost and put the others on the roost.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop,
• 10 square feet in the run,
• 1 linear foot of roost,
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

For 17 chickens you need 68 square feet of space in the coop but have only 48 square feet. Crowding causes many social problems because the dominant birds feel the need to defend the scarce resource territory more vigorously than if they had generous space available.

You also need at least 17 linear feet of roost -- or more if your chickens are especially large or particularly territorial -- and in larger flocks it's best to have it arranged in such a way that subgroups can roost separately and so that subordinate birds can get to the roost without having to pass within pecking distance of the dominant birds.

Thank you, I didn't know about the linear foot rule. I had a hunch the coop was a bit too small, but thought it could work. I also thought the sq ft rule was 2-3 inside, and 6-8 outside. I'll do some figuring on how to increase sq ft without too much trouble.