My four hens are around 11 weeks old and REALLY want to sleep in the nesting box. Since they are so young I blocked it off with a plastic tray and cement block and they knocked it down enough to get in and slept on top of all that stuff.I know I can fix it now so they can't get it but what do I do when they are old enough to lay and I want them to be able to get in it first thing in the morning if that is when they want to lay?We have a tractor type coop and the perches are the same height as the nesting box.
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I put a golf ball in the little box I wanted the hens to use for nesting and they started laying eggs in there instead of the bigger box. Can I remove the bigger box all together? There is no roosting bar in the pen. Do they need one or can they just sleep on the ground?
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Yes, hygiene. Chickens poop a lot when they sleep (as you have no doubt noticed) you don't want the place where they lay eggs to have a bunch of poop in it. Also this means that they are basically sleeping in their own waste as well. For those of you with the tractor coops, can you put the nest boxes any lower? I would even consider moving them to ground level if it meant not having chickens sleeping in the nest boxes. It's hard to make suggestions without seeing a picture of the chicken tractor.
Ok here are some pictures. It isn't pretty but it works. :) The nesting box is at the far right side it is closed off right now. I figure I should open it back up when they are around 4 months old.
It is actually in two pieces so we can move it around. It will probably stay here for a while as I it is the coolest part of the yard. So unless they get too noisy when they start laying this is the summer spot.
When we did our "research" it seemed that a lot if people recommended using 2 x 4s laid this way for perching is that correct?
Mine aren't laying yet so I am no expert but as I understand it it is a matter of hygene. Because the sleeping area gets so dirty you want a clean place as possible for the eggs.
Well since the one time they "broke" in I closed it off better and they stopped trying to get in (as far as I know) but I know they would if they could.
They are now around 3 months old so I figure around 4 months I will open it up and put fake eggs in it and hope they cooperate.
By the way if anybody want real looking fake eggs they sell some at the Craker Barrel.
We have two perches (like the center bar on an A) one is very close to the nesting box and one is at the other end of the A frame which is open and covered in hardware cloth.
We did it this way for ventilation but they do seem to just use the perch in the back, the ledge of the nesting box and the nesting box if they can get in. Maybe when they are bigger they will use both perches.
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Check it out:
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It is actually in two pieces so we can move it around. It will probably stay here for a while as I it is the coolest part of the yard. So unless they get too noisy when they start laying this is the summer spot.
When we did our "research" it seemed that a lot if people recommended using 2 x 4s laid this way for perching is that correct?
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Well since the one time they "broke" in I closed it off better and they stopped trying to get in (as far as I know) but I know they would if they could.
They are now around 3 months old so I figure around 4 months I will open it up and put fake eggs in it and hope they cooperate.
By the way if anybody want real looking fake eggs they sell some at the Craker Barrel.
We did it this way for ventilation but they do seem to just use the perch in the back, the ledge of the nesting box and the nesting box if they can get in. Maybe when they are bigger they will use both perches.