roosting in nesting boxes

[MareeZoCool]

:

Hi, I gave my girl an old, empty coffee maker box, she sleeps in it at night, lays eggs each morning, nice & clean.

 

[lex381]

wow i guess im lucky! my girls went straight for the roost. we also have a roost in the run. haha i can hear esmerelda now!

 

[PolarBear]

Have any of you tried puttng your nesting boxes in the run instead of the coop? What would be the downside to this?

 

[Bare bottom farm]

Ok the block last night went well. I was out late tonight so i just got done movieing them to the roost and bocking again. I hope by the time this week is over they will be retrained to go to the roost.

As for leave the nesting boxes out side in the run you have animals that will try to take the eggs,and weather. O ther than that I have in ideal why not?

 

[VerlonCox]

I agree with the guy that was asking if the nest boxes were higher then the roost. If it is cold out and they dont have a heat source they will do this to help hold in the heat, I know that I would. If they are new birds and the roost pole isnt "broken in" they may do it as well. My birds always migrate to the oldest wood roost that I have in the hen house for some reason.

 

[8isGreat]

Thank you for all the responses to read here! This is a problem I was having, too! I have 6 new 20 week old Red Star hens (not yet laying) and two 1 yo RIR hens. I will put empty milk jugs in the four nesting boxes at dusk tonight.

Can anyone let me know how old a RS pullet is when she begins to lay?

They each have their own coops and runs as they learn to get aquainted. I intend to put them all into the larger new coop once the pecking order is established.

I have another ?.
My pullets were clipped before I purchased them. They are not eating up all the crumble feed I drop (my RIRs never leave anything behind) Should I switch them to pellets? Will they be able to break these apart to eat? I s the problem their age or the feed type?

TIA

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Roost has to be higher up than nests are. That is the only way to stop it.