Soggy run

[biddydog1]

I have 5 bantams- 4 hens and a cockerel. The hens have suddenly started to sleep in the nesting box and soil it overnight. Also the cockerel roosts on the opening into the nest box with nose into the hen house and therefore his vent hangs over into the nesting box. He too soils overnight.

Any ideas how I can prevent this

[Egluntyne]

Block the nest box with a football or plant pot.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'm sure I responded to this earlier . I was going to say football or plant pot too - or block off access to the nestboxes completely with a board of some sort (depending on what hen house you have). Just remember to remove it in the morning .

[biddydog1]

Thanks I will try it tonight

[Lewis]

Hope you manage to sort it

[Spinning Top]

One of our girls started to sleep in the nesting box . I've been putting a thin plastic chopping board across the entrance, propped from the nesting box side so it can't fall through the hole onto the girls in the night and being thin, wouldn't hurt them even if they managed to dislodge it. (a set of four boards were about a tenner from John Lewis and there's a limit to how much chopping I do in the kitchen ). I put it in every night for about a week and she's now realised where she's supposed to sleep. A sheet of cardboard would do the same job.

 

Hey, get me - we've had chooks for less than three months and I can already share an experience