sleeping in nesting boxes!?

[aart]

If you would rather not close off the boxes completely you could leave them open during the day (most common laying hours) and close them off just before they usually start to settle in for the night and/or just physically move them out of the box and onto the roost each evening until they catch on and start going to the roost themselves.

Ditto!

 

[jpfenimore]

Thank you! I did so last night. Boy did they seem disturbed! But they eventually settled down. I'm getting a lot of "lip" from them this morning though. I hope they get used to their new routine pretty quickly!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Thank you! I did so last night. Boy did they seem disturbed! But they eventually settled down. I'm getting a lot of "lip" from them this morning though. I hope they get used to their new routine pretty quickly!

Gotta love the sass! I can sympathize, I have one that has begun insisting on roosting in a bad place (on the top of the interior "man" door that is left open from dawn to dusk so the screen door can let lots of light and ventilation into the coop) - so every night for the last four days I have had to lift her down and put her on a roost.

 

[RonP]

I would agree, best to close the boxes off before they go in at night.
Open them up in the early morning, or after they are roosting on their own.

If not, go in at night, and physically put them on the roosts.

It shouldn't take long for them to get the idea.

 

[jpfenimore]

Thank you @RonP . I love your dogwood!
@Ol Grey Mare they seem to be settling down now. They've even been offering themselves up to let me pet them over the past 24 hours or so, which I interpret (with my self-proclaimed Chicken Psychologist credentials) as contrition.

 

[gloken]

This isn't a great photo, but last night I found SEVEN birds sharing a single nesting box. Bird number eight was left to sleep outside of the coop. And here I was worried that the coop would be too small for them:

 

[heychickiedoo]

I have had this problem too, recently. We got 2 new pullets and our original pullet, Batman, has been kind of bullying the newbies so they can't sleep on the roosts but rather they hide out in the nesting boxes. They're just starting to lay, so I've opened up access recently to the nesting boxes (they were closed off before when they were younger). I've found that it's easier at night to scoot them out of the nesting boxes and onto the roosts. Sometimes I have to go out a couple times, but I'm hoping it will catch on in a few days.

 

[gloken]

I only had to move mine to the perch a couple times before they caught on, some faster than others. They want to perch, as long as the perch is high and accessible to them.

 

[jpfenimore]

I'm still having a problem with one girl. The other three sleep on the perches no problem, but every evening I have to physically move our top girl, a Buff Orp, from the box to the perch. She's also recently started displaying more domineering behavior. Is something else going on? None of our girls are broody.

 

[mrsdjl3rd]

Maybe she is going to be the queen bitty!

Update over here. They are started to lay, about one chicken per week so about 4 of them are laying now over the course of three weeks. In the nesting area the slats that divided the nests were high but not all the way up to the nest access doors so that's where they were perching to sleep! Silly ladies. And talk about a poppy mess in the boxes! Sheesh! My nights are full of feeding bathing and bed for three kids, 4 and under so no time to train them. I put a board over the boxes so they couldn't get on the dividing walls like that and it worked and they are still able to scoot in there wig the little head room that I left, to lay their eggs. Whew!