poop in nesting boxes

[kdgchick65]

Why ar emy hens pooping in the nesting boxes? They are only about 4 months old but I have two other hens that are over a year old. Will the poop from the younger chicks keep the others from laying in their?

 

[cmom]

My birds were sleeping in the nest boxes. I would put milk crates in the nest boxes in the evenings and take them out in the mornings for a week. It seems to have worked. I did it with my hens and with my pullets. Also I put a golf ball in each nest box. I also made sure the roosts are higher than the nest boxes. The birds tend to go to the highest spot to roost. My original roosts were at the same height as the nest boxes. I have raised it to just above the boxes. It's no fun when they get used to sleeping in the nest boxes and then you reach in and get poopy eggs. This happened to me in the beginning. I thought it was cute. I finally got tired of cleaning the poopy eggs and the poop out of the nest boxes..

 

[kdgchick65]

I had not thought of making the boxes unavailable at night. Great idea. thanks