pooping in nesting box

[Flachickman]

My 2 " girls" are 2 years old and are in their second molt. All of a sudden instead of eggs in the nesting box ,every day I find a fresh pile of poop. It's like they're defying me. I guess I could block the entrance to the box till they got back to laying. It has been 4 weeks. I actually had to buy eggs . Horrors !

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have this trouble every year, it seems to be the same hens every year, it seems to start with the molt and continues out of habit, I think they are uncomfortable on the roosts, if no one is laying than I would block all the nestboxes for a few weeks and hopefully they forget about doing it.

 

[aart]

My 2 " girls" are 2 years old and are in their second molt. All of a sudden instead of eggs in the nesting box ,every day I find a fresh pile of poop. It's like they're defying me. I guess I could block the entrance to the box till they got back to laying. It has been 4 weeks. I actually had to buy eggs . Horrors !

oldhenlikesdogs has a good point there.

Are they sleeping in the nests at night instead of on the roosts?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

X3.....sounds like some nest sleepers. I, too, notice some hens tend to hunker down in the nest during molt, it is dark, safe and comforting to them.