Why do my Chickens Roost on the Nesting Box?

[Fishkeeper]

For a second there, I thought you meant the chickens are shoulder height on you! I was wondering if you'd accidentally hatched ostrich eggs or something.

 

[CindyinSD]

 

[AudieH]

Could the nesting roosts bars be a different size than the tall roost? Just wondering if they prefer the feel of that shape on their feet vs the regular roost. It could also just be easier to rooster there instead of trying to fight off the higher ups in the pecking order and now it has become a habit. I am sure blocking them for a while will help in a week or so if that is the case

 

[Lori S]

When checking for eggs after dark I often find 2-3 of my 4 nesting boxes occupied by sleeping hens. And I have only four birds. My roost has room for eight and is very low- less than a foot off the floor. The coop is a former tractor, about three feet high and four by eight. My chickens did not always do this. Just over the past winter with newer birds. Blocking the boxes is not really practical, so right now I just clean out the poop as often as I can. Sigh.

 

[CindyinSD]

My nest bars are 1x2 and the roosts are 2x4. I don’t see chickens on the nesting bars in the mornings. They just like to hop around on them during the day and inspect all the nests until they decide on the coziest one to give birth in.

 

[Old Philosopher]

The last pullets I introduced to the flock roosted on the floor for a month before they "earned" a spot on the bottom rung of the roost.
A ladder style roost like in CindyinSD's photo has the most success, IMO. It's low enough young birds can use it, and the angle/spacing of rungs is appropriate so upper birds don't poop on the lower ones. Also, the 2x4 rungs are easy on bird's feet, and allow the bird to nestle down to protect their feet from the cold in harsher climates (e.g. South Dakota).
Nice job, Cindy!

 

[gtaus]

I have been looking at some commercial metal nesting boxes where the perch simply pivots up to block the nest box at night. The chickens can't use it as a roost at night nor can they sleep (and poop) in the nesting box. I am thinking about making something like that out of wood.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

And yes as I said before, there is definitely enough room for all of them. The nesting boxes now have curtains on them which helps keep out muck.

I bet the older ones are not letting the younger ones up there. Chickens can sometimes be territorial about the space they get on the roost. My Diva hen sometimes hogs the whole roost to herself and the other seven chickens will be all smashed together on the other roost.

 

[aart]

When checking for eggs after dark I often find 2-3 of my 4 nesting boxes occupied by sleeping hens. And I have only four birds. My roost has room for eight and is very low- less than a foot off the floor. The coop is a former tractor, about three feet high and four by eight. My chickens did not always do this. Just over the past winter with newer birds. Blocking the boxes is not really practical, so right now I just clean out the poop as often as I can. Sigh.

So roost is 8' long and higher than the nests?
Did adding birds take your total past 4 birds?

 

[elmo]

What seems like plenty of room to us, may not seem that way to chickens. The other thing I noticed with our hens is that they prefer to roost next to a solid wall (they all squabbled over who got to sit on the ends of the roost board). So I added enough shelf supports to the roost board so that everyone could get a "wall" seat if they wanted one. Now everyone is happy.

One thing you could do is take down the roost in front of the next boxes. They probably don't need that to get into the box, right?