Sleeping in nest boxes!!!!!

[downtownjb80]

OK guys, I know loads of people have posted this, but I need to do this again. My chickens are 17 weeks old now, they have been outside for weeks and weeks now with perches. I go out 2 or 3 times a night to shoo them from the nest boxes and put them on the perches but they still won't learn! I have tried perches at different heights. I tried blocking the boxes off for a few weeks but as soon as I opened them up again they went back in, and they will be laying soon so I don't want to keep them blocked. Every night they are back in the nest boxes (or the majority are).

They are starting to stay on the perches all night after the first shoo but not always. What can I do?

 

[fam5r]

ok I am new to this chicken raising thing
so they are not supposed to lay in them at night to sleep? mine do all night and most lay eggs at night or early am humm never knew that wish the rooster wouldnt lay in them though

 

[downtownjb80]

No, if they sleep in them at night they will poo in them. They poo a lot at night. Poo in nests = dirty eggs. I don't want to block the nests at night as they might want to lay early in the morning.

 

[vsmenagerie]

When I went to shut the door last night, I found a hen AND roo stuffed in one box and two other hens in boxes. Id like to know of ways to keep them out too, because they are making them gross!

 

[downtownjb80]

I have 6 hens and 2 nest boxes, and they all try to pile into one box. After 10+ weeks of moving them onto the perches it is getting very annoying.

 

[downtownjb80]

Can anyone help?

 

[chicmom]

I have 14 hens, and four nice nesting boxes that my husband built, and my girls will only use two of them. And sometimes, all the eggs are in one box, so I think that's pretty common, and there's nothing you can do about that.

What you want to do with the nesting boxes, is block them off at night, and open them in the morning. Even though they're getting ready to lay eggs, that won't hurt a thing. I have one hen, she's a black orpington, and she sleeps in side one of the nesting boxes, while her boyfriend, a lavender orp, roosts on the lip of the nesting box. I have to clean that poop off every day, and it is annoying, but I'm too lazy to come out at night and shoo them off!

I just don't like to go out to the coop at night.

So, close up those nest boxes at night, like you were doing, and open them in the morning. That's really your only option.