Should I let them sleep in the nesting box?

[Borders3]

Maybe you would be better just have one roost bar in the middle rather than squeezing two in or turn them the other way round so you have shorter roosts but then you could maybe fit three in. I'm guessing moving the roosts would be easier than trying to re-configure the coop.

 

[Chicken mob]

Today, my pullets are 25 weeks old. One is already squatting like she’s about to lay.
They are currently living with one older hen, who knows how to roost.
They sleep in the roosting area of the coop which has two roost bars and a dropping board below it. In the same area, and off to the side, there is an opening to the nesting box. This is where all three pullets like to sleep. I’ve been blocking it off, which causes them to sleep on the board. I’ve only had one of them sleep on one of the perches and she’s only done it twice.
I think maybe the hen (Henrietta) might be scaring them away from the perch. But when I separated her, they didn’t know what to do and didn’t even go into the roosting area.
I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want them to get dirty sleeping on the board, and I don’t want to have to clean a bunch of crap out of the nesting box every day. I’ve tried setting them on their perches every night for about a month now, but this has not worked.
How can I encourage them to roost? My Mom thinks I should just let them sleep in the nesting box until they learn to perch, but like I said, cleaning crap out of the nest box every day would be a real hassle. Any advice is appreciated, and here are pictures of the roosting area and nest box.

*Disclaimer: I know this coop is pretty small. It is located in the garage, which is why it is not predator proofed. They only go in this coop for a small part of the day, I move them to a good sized run outdoors every morning and bring them back in at night. The run has a nesting area, food, water, and shade.

Give them time! And keep blocking off the nest boxes, or they will be a mess!

 

[MrIgmo]

You'd be surprised what predators are living around your house. The chickens certainly know. Skunks, possums, raccoons, and coyotes all live in urban environments virtually coast to coast and will eat chickens. Without a rooster there especially. We have a skunk and a large population of feral cats in a house next door that flooded in a freeze a few years ago and the owner took the insurance money and left the house mostly unlivable and stays out of town. The skunk eats the cats. This is in the middle of one of the larger metropolitan areas in the country. I see coyotes in the alley all the time and the occasional bobcat will come by due to the cat smell next door. Any predatory animal will know you have chickens and has already taken note of where they sleep. They might put them further down the list because it'll be a hassle but they won't go hungry for too long before they decide it's worth the work/risk. I have a hawk that flies over every morning so I stay outside with my chickens until he decides to eat a squirrel for breakfast instead. Your chickens instincts are to pile in a corner if they cant get up off the ground and out of the way.

My chickens sleep on a shelf in the corner of my office which is in the garage. Which happens to be in a separate building from the house. I spend a lot of time out here working late, like right now. Sometimes I fall asleep and something will scare the chickens and I'll wake up 6 chickens sleeping on me. They don't poop on me, I didn't know they could hold it. But I have a feeling that on those nights had I not been out here I would have lost one or all of them.

If you let them sleep on the ground they will get infested with mites, lice and fleas. When chickens want to sleep on the ground they call it "lazy". I don't know why I find that so funny. Like it's work to roost off the ground when it's not really. Make sure your roosting poles have a flat spot on top for them to lay down on, they sit their breast bone down between their feet and that's how they balance when they sleep, they don't like ridges or pokey things right there.