Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Sarattie]

Hello

 

My hens stopped layng about november when they began thier moult. they then started to use the nest box as a bed. I used a pair of tights to cover the hole so they couldnt get in there to nest at night and left it like that for about a month or two while we still had no eggs.

Last week I noticed a new egg so I removed the tights and put straw back in for nesting

BUT now I am getting them sleep in there again, its filthy in the morning and the trays under the perches are clean!!! As I am unable to clear the poo first thing in the morning, they are laying their eggs in the poo and Im getting grotty unusable eggs as by the tme I am back in the afternoon, they have squidged it all over!!

 

I have tried flower pots, footballs and all sorts, they just move it or sit on top of it!

 

ARGH!!!

 

thanks in advance for any ideas!!

 

Sarah

[jasperaliceuk]

I feel your pain - I'm in exactly the same situation! Hubby does the door opening in the morning but he won't do the poo pick as its usual dark!

[Sarattie]

its a real pain how can we stop them using it as a bed and to use the perches instead???!

[Sarattie]

Anyone???

[Olly]

If you search 'Sleeping in the nestbox' you'll find quite a few threads on this subject

 

Basically you can block it off with a football, flowerpot or similar but then the hens won't be able to lay in there unless you get up early and remove it. There is a theory that if you go up after dark each night and move the sleeping hens out of the nestbox on to the roosting bars, then they will get out of the habit of sleeping in there, but I never found that worked for me.

 

I just put up with it - if you change the nestbox contents fairly regularly, it should stay clean enough for the eggs not to be too dirty. I've never found eggs to be 'unusable', they just need washing more if they've been trodden on.

[Luvachicken]

Mine were doing this a lot a while ago.

Each night I just open the egg port door and pop the culprits back on the bars and that's where they stay - until the next night of course.

Sometimes there is just one of them in there and other times all four are in there, no idea why, silly things and sometimes none of them are in there

But I just keep doing it and hope one day they will get the message.

[good_egg]

I stick a small trug in the hole (perfect fit) when Dot is broody... Might work if you did at night, you could remove in morning so they can get in to lay?

[kajlbw]

My experience is limited as this is my first time with chickens, but mine chose to sleep in the nest box when I first got them.

 

At dusk I just lifted them out of the nest box and popped them on their perches. More often than not they stayed put and now they don't bother (I think I wore them down after a few nights!)

[kajlbw]

That'll teach me to be smug! Some of them slept in the nest box last night

[mimi5]

The best advice I got with this problem is to get to smallest sized trug, it's a perfect fit for the nest box hole So, when I can I keep it closed off (ie, at night and when they're not laying) and open it up in the morning if I'm expecting eggs. I do have daft Martha who has learnt how to fly/hop over the divider and is often in there when I lock up at night I just turf her out!!! This morning though....2 eggs on the roosting bars!! Just waiting for them to go broody next!!!

[dipsychick]

I used a small trug in mine for a few nights to stop freckles being in there all night ,but I would still find her in there in the morning I guess she goes over the top and squeezes through the gap she is a master of escapology !!

when broody she was put into a dog crate and we returned from a trip out to find her running around the garden on her own and when locked in the shed for the evening in the dog crate , with a box on top to stop her getting out obviously ! she still got out , I went to the shed in the morning and could not believe my eyes , the crate was exactly as I left it , minus freckles . I couldn't find her , the dog finally sniffed her out all comfy in a cat box in the children's sand table honestly we now call her dimamo as we think she has magic powers !

hmm maybe a name from harry potter would suit her better ?

[Henergy]

Just before I go to bed I turf them out onto the bars. As it is dark, they dont try & go back.