Sleeping in nesting boxes

[mcarroll616]

I have asked a million questions on this site the last few days. Sorry if that's annoying, but I get concerned so easy!

The last three days I have had a chicken trying to sleep in the nesting boxes. I pulled her out the last two days and watched today to make sure there wasn't an issue with them picking on each other on the roost. Today, they were free ranging and I saw the hen get into the box about 6. I thought it seemed late to be laying but I was kinda hoping she was. When it was starting to get dark and the chickens were getting on the roosts she was still in there. I was able to pick her up and get her on the roost without any issue, and she was laying on a egg. Why would they do this, and what can i do? I dont really like poopy boxes! She is only about 18 weeks old, a white leghorn and have only been laying for about a week...

 

[Choco Maran]

I guess I'm the weird one out here. I don't care if they sleep in the boxes. I clean them out once a week no matter what and pick the worst out daily no big deal it is just something we have to deal with as chicken owners.

 

[mcarroll616]

Well maybe it's something I shouldn't worry about. I just felt like it was a bad habit!

 

[mwells6chicks]

My hens sleep in their boxes too. Some also roost on the edges of them or on the couple of roost poles in their coop. The last time one of the hens started staying in the box longer and longer, I had to take her out to free range but she would just nestle in the dirt and puff her feathers. Finally realized she was brooding so I got a hold of some fertilized eggs and she nested for the 3 weeks. I was shocked at her perseverance. She turned out to be a great mom. 4 chicks hatched but only 3 survived. They are 5 1/2 weeks old now and she started laying again a couple of days ago. One of these chicks, I suspect, is a rooster. So I'm looking for a home for him. I was wondering how long does it take for them to start on the hens. I saw him jump on one of the chicks yesterday. He isn't crowing yet either.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does she spend all day in that nest, as well as the nights, coming off for a bit to eat, drink, and poo? It doesn’t sound like it from what I read. A hen in full broody mode will stop laying but maybe there is something wrong with that pullets instincts? When she is off the nest, does she walk around fluffed up and making a pucking sound? Do you know if the egg you found under her was hers?

18 weeks is awfully young to go broody and leghorn is not a breed that goes broody very often, but they are living animals. Anything is possible, even if highly unlikely. It’s possible she is thinking about going broody but is not in full broody mode. But at 18 weeks and a leghorn, I would not bet the house on it.

The reason most people don’t want them sleeping in the nests is that they poop a lot and you don’t want poopy eggs. But people are also living creatures. We don’t all reason the same either.

I have had hens, probably pullets but I can’t remember for sure, go on the nest to lay pretty late and stay in there. But when I check under them for eggs when I go down to lock up, they come off the nest and don’t go back. This doesn’t happen three nights in a row either.

It sounds like your roosts are higher than the nests and all that. She may just be in the habit of sleeping in there for whatever reason. Maybe another one was brutal to her on the roost so she now automatically goes to sleep in the nest. You can keep moving her out each night to see if that helps. Often that will get them out of the habit.

Or maybe put up a separate roost a bit higher than the nest and where she won’t poop in the nest if she sleeps there and try moving her to it just in case another hen is being a brute. Maybe make it a bit lower than the regular roosts so the others don’t want to move to it. I did that for integrating young chickens. It gives them a place to go that is not the nests when the older ones are brutal to them on the roosts.

These behavioral things are not always easy to figure out or solve. Good luck!

 

[mcarroll616]

She is spending a lot of time in there today, for sure. I can see them before they see me, But when they see me coming she jumps down and gets excited right with the rest of them. I don't think she is broody, but she sure likes that nesting box. I do think she laid that egg last night... Who knows.