[brick22]

Hi All, just wanted to check that I'm doing the right thing.

Both my girls sleep in the nest box, as you can magine its not very clean the next day. I always let them out at 7am and one of them has normally already laid. After reading about blocking up the nest box to get them perching (and avoiding dirty eggs/boxes) I tried this last night with a bit of cardboard. I got them up 10mins earlier just in case she was desperate to lay but she had already laid on the coop floor.
Do you think I should get them up even earlier or would it work if I went out there late at night and removed it?

[GrannieAnnie]

It is awkward when you get an early layer like yours!  You could try going out later at night and removing the block.  Once settled, they usually stay where they are unless disturbed.

Most chickens though, once they are used to roosting on the perches, don't then go back into the nest boxes.  Our little breeder flock don't.  hubby used to drop an old curtain down over the nest boxes, but now he has removed it, the girls still roost on their perches.

[jhub]

Hello
I have a similar problem with just one of my my three hens and I now do what GA suggests and put up a barrier after I've collected their eggs and remove it once they have 'gone to bed'.
However last winter they all huddled in the nest box at night ( I have an Eglu cube which is awfully big for 3 chickens) and as it was so very cold I let them do this until the weather improved. I coped with the mess by putting layers of newspaper and straw in the nest box and removed one layer every morning ( someone else's brilliant suggestion)
This winter I am going to partition the coop with a cardboard box.
Jane

[brick22]

Thanks for the tips Grannie & jhub
I have put the screen back in, will take it out late at night when both are asleep. I also have a silly little window in my coop, I think I will cover that up whilst the mornings are so light, that way they might sleep for a little longer in the mornings.

[Ben_H]

A friend of mine used a bit of old hessian sacking to block the nest box. Enough of a barrier to stop them sleeping in there but easy enough to push aside for the egg laying urge.

[GrannieAnnie]

We've had that with the curtain too Ben.  Brian goes out in the morning to lift it up, only to find 2 hens sitting in the nest boxes laying, but there is never any poo in there!  So they've not slept in there.

[jhub]

A friend of mine used a bit of old hessian sacking to block the nest box. Enough of a barrier to stop them sleeping in there but easy enough to push aside for the egg laying urge.

I did try this initially but Nugget ( the persistent one) hustled her way through and snuggled down in the box- her idea of a 'des res' I suppose. There is now a more formidable barrier in place.

[Ben_H]

I'm very proud of my girls. I've had them two and a half weeks now and last night for the first time I found them all roosting when I went to shut them in. Previously I've had to turf some out the the nest box or pick them up from a huddle in the corner. The advice I got from on here and others was to wait till it was dark enough they would be scared to move and then get them onto the roosting bars.

We'll see if they do the same tonight!

[dawnie77]

im proud of mine to ben, only a few days i read the post about blocking them off and i removed my but 1 that they never seemed to go in and sure enough they all snuggle up on there perches, wish kids learnt that quick lol

[VickyW]

I blocked off my nest boxes tonight, they went to bed earlier than usual and pushed the block over and sat on it!!! 

Had to keep it in place with a brick so we'll see tomorrow...

[brick22]

Yay!! 2 lovely clean eggs & nest boxes this morning