Suggestions for getting hens to sleep where I want?

[Ridgerunner]

Good, I'm glad it's working.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Sometimes it just easier for you to change where you want them to sleep to where they are currently sleeping.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag.
Frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.

I have 65 trips around the sun it is the best method I have stumbled upon.

Make sure the twine is removed from the open end of the bag it can get tangled around your birds.

 

[Chicksterfan]

I have four 9 week old chicks (hens I hope) and they have a ladder w/ rungs up to their two perches and two nest boxes. I have found poop in their nest boxes, quite a bit of it. Does this mean they're sleeping in them? I'm brand new to keeping chickens so any advice is appreciated. They only go up there at night when I've locked them in.

 

[User395221]

Sometimes it just easier for you to change where you want them to sleep to where they are currently sleeping.

I have found poop in their nest boxes, quite a bit of it. Does this mean they're sleeping in them?

I suspect that they are sleeping there. The poo in mine was only there when these girls were sleeping there. There's no poo now that the other little girls are living in that house. The poo accumulates where they are sleeping.

 

[Leigti]

I have four 9 week old chicks (hens I hope) and they have a ladder w/ rungs up to their two perches and two nest boxes. I have found poop in their nest boxes, quite a bit of it. Does this mean they're sleeping in them? I'm brand new to keeping chickens so any advice is appreciated. They only go up there at night when I've locked them in.

The roosts need to be noticeably higher than the nest boxes. If your chicks are not Lane yet you can easily just block off the nest boxes until they start laying eggs. Then put a fake egg in the nest boxes and they will know where to start Lane. I've heard a golf ball works also, but I like the fake eggs better.

 

[Chicksterfan]

The roosts need to be noticeably higher than the nest boxes. If your chicks are not Lane yet you can easily just block off the nest boxes until they start laying eggs. Then put a fake egg in the nest boxes and they will know where to start Lane. I've heard a golf ball works also, but I like the fake eggs better.

Thank you. The perches are not higher than the nest boxes but for the time being I've blocked off the nest boxes. Thanks!