I'm new to chickens and confused. I have a 4 1/2 month old EE who insists on sleeping in a nest box. High, low, or brightly lit til late at night, she's stubborn about it. I've resorted to removing the nest box from the coop and replacing it late, after she's gone to sleep. That's worked for about a week, but last night, just before the automatic coop door closed, she found an outside nest box and for the first time entered it. I have golf ball in there to inspire her and again for the first time, rather than stepping all over it, she nudged it in the right place and sat on it... and settled in for the night!! The sun went down; the coop door closed. When I went to put her in the coop, she made broody noises at me... sitting there on her golf ball having never laid before. What's going on? Thanks!
We have a BR that insists on sleeping in the nest box too. How did you build or where did you find your automatic door closer?
You might try taking the box out of the coop for a while. Also, some people come out and put the chicken on the roost at night. You really want to break her of this habit before she starts laying or you will have poopy eggs.
We cut a piece of carboard from the 2 sides of a box, keeping the corner. It fit perfectly across the openings of our 3-seater nest box - part rested on top and part fell completely across the openings. We would put this over the nest boxes late in the day, but before it got dark, so they couldn't get into the nest boxes at night. Then, when everyone was on the roost, we would remove the cardboard so the nests would be open in the mornings. We only had to do this for perhaps 4-5 weeks before our pullets who had been sleeping there got the idea that they were supposed to sleep on the roosts.
I put empty feed sacks, all crumpled up, in my nest boxes when the girls go in the coop at night (or just before that), and remove them in the morning. This way, they are open during the day for when they DO begin to lay, but closed off at night time. (Sidebar: golf balls didn't convince my girls wher to lay...they weren't "believable" enough, I guess. I bought some wooden eggs from the local craft store, and they treat them all just like real eggs.)
It must be an EE thing! We're having the same problem. Our nest boxes are up a ramp from the inside of the coop. We have two nice boxes that open from the outside of the coop and inside of each box is lots of straw, and would be large enough for two very nice sized nest. As it is, the chickens only lay on one side because the EE's have been sleeping in and pooping up the other side. I've seen them on the roost and don't understand why they sleep in the straw instead of on the roost like good chickens should do. Someone here said that I could hang a dark curtain over the entry of the nest boxes and that would keep them from going in them to sleep at night. If I could keep them out of that one nest, I'd set it up for my broody and give her a few eggs out of my incubator!
Quote:When I did my research, this place had the best prices: http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/VSBb_Automatic_Door_Opener.html#a13 I watched the exchange rate 'til it came to a price of my liking. It was still expensive, but worth every penny!!
Quote:Mine used to sleep on the roost until there was a box in the coop. Since then, she won't go on the roost even when there is no nest box. Instead, she'll pile on the floor in the straw with the silkies. But what worries me is now that there is no nest access in the coop, she's chosen to sleep outside and across the yard in an outside nest.
