[mantha]

Hi everyone,

Wondered if I could get some advice please. I have had 3 rhode island x white sussex girls since November.  They have a homemade coop with two nest boxes above a rosting box and bar.  They usually snuggle up together in the roosting box and in the mornings I find one egg on the floor of the coop (clara just can't seem to work out where the nest box is?!) and two eggs in the nest boxes.

However lately I am finding lots of poo in the nest boxes as if one of them has been sleeping there overnight.  I did think they might be getting a bit spooked by something at night but it seems from the amount of poo to only be 1 or 2 of them.

Any ideas how I can persuade them back to the roost box please?

Many thanks - love the site!

sam 

[joyfull]

Hi Sam - you need to educate them which means every night for the next few weeks go out and whilst they are sleepy lift them out of the nest boxes and onto the perch. It may take quite a few times of doing this but they will get there. Also if you can find a way of blocking off the nest boxes over night and get up early to remove the blocking so they can lay.
The roosting perch should be higher than the nest box as it is natural for birds to roost higher up out of harms way.
To get the other hen to lay in the correct place either buy a pot/rubber/plastic decoy egg and  place this in the nest box to show her. A golf ball will also do for this.

[PaulineM]

Hi
Did you say your nestboxes where above your roost bars, if so this would be your problem as the hens will sleep in the highest place they can. 
Nest boxes should be lower than the roost bar

[Fisherman]

Hi Sam - you need to educate them which means every night for the next few weeks go out and whilst they are sleepy lift them out of the nest boxes and onto the perch. It may take quite a few times of doing this but they will get there. Also if you can find a way of blocking off the nest boxes over night and get up early to remove the blocking so they can lay.

Although this works the majority of the time I have 2 hens that will always go in the nest box to sleep in preference to sleeping on the perch. I have been blocking off the nest boxes for about 12 months but if I forget once they are straight in. If I block off the nest boxes until after dark they perch as normal and remain there until dawn. I am considering making an automatic nest box opener similar to a pop-hole opener which will close at dusk before the hens go to perch and then open after dark at say midnight.

The nest boxes do need to be lower than the perch height as Joyfull and Pauline recommend. The width and shape of the perch could be another issue. It needs to be 50 - 75mm wide and rounded on the edges to keep the birds comfortable.

[mantha]

Hi everyone

Thanks very much for your replies.  I was given the homemade coop and I added the roosting bar (it is correct thickness and shape) but I can now see it is too low (tbh I don't think any of the chickens have ever used it).  It is only a smallish coop and the nest boxes are right at the top so don't have the option of putting the bar any higher.

I took your advice and have been moving the 2 girls from the nest boxes when they are sleepy and so far no poo in the nest boxes in the mornings.

Thanks very much
Sam