Still sleeping in nesting boxes, should be laying soon...

[cjp4]

Below is a link to the interior of my coop before my girls moved in. I'm trying to get one of them in the nesting box.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/account/th-attachment-manager/3838089/view

 

[aart]

I've been trying but right now the system won't let me upload any pics. I'll keep at it.

Include dimensions of coop and number and ages of birds.

 

[cjp4]

My coop is 3ft x 3ft. I have 4 girls in the coop. 2 Mille Fleur (~16wks), a Speckled Sussex & a Silver Laced Wynedotte both ~19wks.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That might be the problem. In general, LF chickens like to have about 4 sq ft per bird in the coop. 4 hens x 4 ft = 16 sq ft. You have 9 sq ft. They may be feeling too crowded to get comfortable. Not saying this is the problem, but it's my guess that it is the root.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Also, they need one foot per bird on the roost. At 3' width, they just don't all fit there.

 

[cjp4]

I know the coop is a little small for the birds. I have plans on expanding it. My only question to this would be that if it is too cramped, wouldn't they respond differently? I mean they are cramming themselves into a nesting box that is 10" wide X 15" long X 20" deep?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So it looks like you have room for two birds comfortably on your roost, and two more sleep in one of the nests?

 

[cjp4]

There is actually room for 3 birds comfortably on the roost. It's a 2 foot roost that is a foot off the back wall giving 3 feet of roost space. There are also roosting bars on the nesting boxes which are higher than the floor of the boxes (if that matters). And yet, they all insist on sleeping together in the same box.

 

[rosemarythyme]

There are also roosting bars on the nesting boxes which are higher than the floor of the boxes

Those aren't roosting bars and aren't meant to be used as roosts - just perches to help the birds get up into an elevated nest. You do NOT want them sleeping on those as you're risking poop once again landing in the nests.

You simply do not have enough roost space for 4 plus all the assorted roost time arguments that happen when they're getting situated for the night. You really need a 2nd roost or a longer one.

 

[cjp4]

Thank you for all the input. As much as I want to add on to the coop, that just isn't feasible right now. I was looking at adding more roosting space yesterday as I was cleaning the coop.