What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[heth1986]

I'm sure it doesn't really matter but my girls have recently taken to sleeping in the nesting box. It's not a massive issue because it's easy enough to clean out every morning but they're starting to get mucky bottoms from pooing and sitting in it all night. Is this a normal chook behaviour or is there a problem? Their roosting bar isn't very high and it's about 3 inches (ish) wide with rounded edges so I'm sure it's okay for them... well it must be because they were using it before! Should I just leave them to it or should I be sitting them on their roosting bar to try to try to encourage them every night?

[Plum]

I move mine out for the same reasons - the messy bottoms:D

[cloud]

I'll love to know the answer too. Two of ours girls do, and two don't I'm think we've made the nestbox too cosy. Should we be putting them on the bar?

[dance in the dark]

I have similar problems in two of my coops. I have had limited success with just moving them out of their nest, then closing the coop, opening it again a few minutes later, moving them back onto the perches and so on. It is a bit of a hassle but some of them eventually get the message. Failing that, if you can find a suitable object to put in the nest box, a plastic container, a drinker etc, anything they will avoid sitting on, then if you can either take it out first thing in the morning, or, if you think you might not get there before the first eggs are laid in the morning, you can take it out last thing at night. The chickens should be suitably settled by then to not want to move into the nest box.

 

I know it's a bit of a pain, but mostly, they will learn!!!

[Margaret]

Mine all slept in the nest box . So I have now removed the back set of bars from the cube and they all sleep in there.

No idea why , as for the first few years they all roosted. But as they are old ladies now, I let them get away with it. Just poo pick in the morning, easy enough to do with Aubiose.