Roosting by nesting box

[brandonhorn84]

I am new to this whole thing. But night after night our birds are all roosting on the one bar I put in front of their nesting box just to help them get into the nesting boxes. I have 16ft worth of roost branches in this coop. Why are they always using the one small 4ft long 2x2 rough cut lumber to roost on at night?

Any suggestions? Should I put the roosts higher? I read that the nesting boxes should be higher than the roosts. What should I do? Do I need to even be worried about this at all. See the photos below.

 

[DobieLover]

I read that the nesting boxes should be higher than the roosts.

Where on earth did you read that? It's bassackwards.
The birds want to be on the highest perch to roost and that is exactly what they are doing.
You need to lower the perch to the nest box and/or raise the night perches. The nest box and it's landing perch need to be the low points.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Well. At least they are not roosting IN the nests.

 

[brandonhorn84]

Well. At least they are not roosting IN the nests.

Actually they are roosting and pooping up a storm in there too.

 

[brandonhorn84]

Where on earth did you read that? It's bassackwards.
The birds want to be on the highest perch to roost and that is exactly what they are doing.
You need to lower the perch to the nest box and/or raise the night perches. The nest box and it's landing perch need to be the low points.

Not sure where I read it but now I know that after doing even more research that I was definitely wrong and that what you are saying is so right. Looks like I got some work to do.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would drop the nests to close to floor level, and just cover the opening left behind with hardware cloth so it's extra ventilation. Louvered vent covers or an awning will protect the opening from weather.