Teaching to roost on the bar

[ozzy chooks]

Hello,

I have three chooks that I got 8 weeks ago when they were (I was told) 16 weeks.
They started roosting on the edges of the laying boxes.
I did some research and found that I needed to teach them to go on the roost bar.

So after few days I started putting them on the roost bar when they got back in the coop in the evening.
After 2 days one got it.
It took about two weeks for another one to learn and now she sleeps always on the bar.

I am a bit concerned about the third one.
She still goes on the laying boxes and I still have to move her every single evening.
Once I move her she stays on the bar all night, but she "complains" a lot and disrupts the other two.

She is the first that started laying and since then she always lays in the laying boxes.
I could let her sleep on top of the laying boxes but that would entail having to clean them every morning from her poo, so I rather not doing that.

Does any of you have some advice?
How else can I teach her? Considering it has been 7 weeks I guess I need to try something different, but what?

Thank you!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What does your set up look like? Are your roosts higher than the boxes? Do you have multiple roosts?

 

[ozzy chooks]

I have only 1 roost which is a bit higher that the nesting boxes.

I read that sometimes the problem is that the roost is not higher enough but I think is not the case because the coop was build by the previous house owner who used to have several chickens in this coop and he was very experienced because he used to have a farm.

 

[aart]

How long is your roost?
Pics would help immensely.

I have an easily applied cover for my nests to deter this behavior.

 

[ozzy chooks]

I'll take pics this weekend when I will clean the coop.
The roost runs for the length of the coop - about 2metres.

Apart from changing the coop setup, is there anything that else I can try with the chook?

 

[Gilmore768]

I have the same concern except 2 of my 3 hen just lay in the nest box. They're not broody, just stubborn. have to move them every night. I cover sounds like the idea.

 

[aart]

I'll take pics this weekend when I will clean the coop.
The roost runs for the length of the coop - about 2metres.

Apart from changing the coop setup, is there anything that else I can try with the chook?

Just keep putting her on the roost after dark.
Until we see coop setup I can't make any other suggestions.
Don't worry about clean for pics, we've all seen poopy coops. .
You may not have to change much, could be something simple.

 

[ozzy chooks]

Thanks for your help aart
Today I'll get home too late, i.e. it will be dark. And tomorrow it will be weekend in this part of the world
So I won't be able to take decent pics before tomorrow anyway
(BTW my coop is very tiny compare to yours...)

 

[ozzy chooks]

Here is the coop.
Difficult to take a decent picture of a small space.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Chickens instinctively want to roost higher up. So looking at your set up moving up the roost would be the easiest thing to do. Remove the existing roost bar. Create a horizontal support bracket above the current one, screw it to the existing vertical wood posts, and then just reattach the roost bar.