[steephen]

I have currently got problems with birds roosting on the edge of the nest boxes and fouling them so I am constantly getting dirty eggs.
There must be a simple way to deter this. I have some roll away boxes and they are stopping them working.
Thanks

[Vickie & Richard]

Whats wrong with dirty eggs?  My girls love sleeping in the nest box at the moment, i just clean the mess out in the morning.

[poultrygeist]

have you got perches above the nest boxes, and are they easily accessible and away from draughts ?

Also, could you block off the nest boxes at night and open again at unlock ?

Rob

[Foxy]

have you got perches above the nest boxes, and are they easily accessible and away from draughts ?

Also, could you block off the nest boxes at night and open again at unlock ?

Rob

Agree with Rob -birds like to perch at the highest point so make sure the perches are higher than the nestboxes and that should sort the problem.

[orfy]

Mine sometimes try to roost on the lip of the nest box rather than in them.
I just lift them on to the other perches. They seem to get the idea.

I don't wan to have to start closing off the boxes unless it becomes a problem.

[Aunt Sally]

How many hens and nest boxes do you have steephen  :?:

[steephen]

40 hens 8 boxes

[poultrygeist]

What's the internal setup in the shed Steephen ?

ie. roosting, etc

[weatherwax]

This thread got me thinking, my girls don't sleep on their perches, they snuggle down together at nights, does it matter???

[Aunt Sally]

This thread got me thinking, my girls don't sleep on their perches, they snuggle down together at nights, does it matter???

I don't thinks so - as long as they're not sleeping in poo or geting poo'd on from above  

[weatherwax]

No they seem to poo in one bit and sleep in the other

[Chookaholic]

You're lucky!How'd you train them to do that??

[raeburg]

What about putting a kind of curtain at the front of the nest boxes?  My mum uses pieces of sacking, so they can get in if they want to lay but it is sectioned of.  It might be enough to stop them perching there.  Having said that 2 of mine insist on sleeping in the boxes and refuse point blank to perch.

[Chickenstreet]

When two of mine began doing that I lifted them out of the nest box and put them onto the perches as I had read of someone on this forum doing that with theirs - I only needed to do it one or two evenings before they got the idea, they haven't slept in the nest boxes since.  Enough mess to clear out from under the perches each day - mine sometimes do quite watery poos so I didn't really want to have to start cleaning out the nest box each day, too. :-)