Sleeping in their nesting boxes

[pfost262]

Is it a bad behavior for my hens to sleep in the nesting boxes? I never thought of it as bad. The egg are still being laid. Usually two or three sleep in the box and one or two will sleep above them. I have a roost but it would be hard for me to place them up on it at night for them to get use to sleeping up there. If it really isn't a bad habit I won't mess with it. My hens are about a year old.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

It can be a bad habit because hens poop while the sleep and you will end up with poopy nest boxes and poopy eggs. Not the best sanitary conditions. I would try to block off the boxes in the evening/afternoon after everyone has laid and then open them back up in the morning. Once everyone gets the hang of roosting you will not need to do it anymore. Make sure your roost is higher than your boxes.

 

[ChickEngineer]

When I finished my coop the girls were not laying yet. Just did not put the nest boxes in until later. By the time I put the boxes in they were used to the perches. One of my RR (low on the pecking order) will occasionally sleep in one of the boxes.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I had real problems with one hen wanting to sleep in the nesting box and messing it up something horrible each night. Initially the problem was that the roost was the same height as the location of the box so we resolved that issue by moving the roost up. By that time she was loving the nesting box and didn't want to give it up.

She's a quirky girl so we made a second roosting pole. Success! Apparently she'd gotten used to sleeping alone and didn't want to share a roosting pole with her two sisters. Hens are so full of drama that you'd swear they were 13-year old girls!