Roosting

[jdoane]

I've recently had a bit of a problem with one of my young birds trying to sleep in the nesting boxes. I can't just shut them off because I have one 7 month old that is laying. My younger ones are 14 weeks. Interestingly it's not always the same bird but it seems to usually be one of two of the younger ones. When I go out to close up the coop after dark I boot out whoever it is and they then get up on the perch and spend the rest of the night there.

There is enough roosting space. And really once I evict them from the nest box they are fine. Anything else I should be doing?

 

[Kelsie2290]

There always seems to be a couple of young birds that want to sleep in the nest boxes or on the floor for some reason. I usually do the same thing you are, and just keep kicking them out until they stop.
Just double check that the roosts are easy to get onto from multiple places, some young birds are not good at jumping etc and have a hard time getting up on roosts that older birds have no problem with, and if there is one main access point, there may be an older bird blocking them.
If they have one or two favorite nest boxes they usually sleep in, I will shut those off when I collect eggs, as long as there is still a box or two left open for the late in the day layers, and open them all up again in the morning.