chicken coop

Well I have a little question. I have about 19 hens and a roo. I want to redo my coop since I have gotten more but I don't know how I want to do it. I like how my coop is now but I have just a little problem. All my hens don't like to roost up on the sticks that I have up in the coop. They roost over their nest boxes and poop in them which means I have to clean in out a lot more than I usually do. Before I got all the new ones all my hens would roost on the sticks but since I've gotten more its like they just roost wherever they fly up at. How can I get them to stop roosting in the nest boxes and start roosting on the sticks. Also how many nest boxes should I have? I believe I might have to many. I will try to post some pics up later so you can see my coop.

__________ Fri Oct 24, 2014 3:09 pm __________

Here are a few pics <br /><br /> __________ Fri Oct 24, 2014 3:14 pm __________ <br /><br /> Also how can I get them to stop jumping up in their nest boxes and scratching all the straw out? They do it every time I put new straw in and it aggravates me to death because if there isn't no straw in the boxes then they somehow crack their eggs.

Wow, lots of chickens..I only have six. I have eight boxes and everyone lays in the same one . They will scratch in the boxes, don't know how to stop that . I lined the boxes with paper and then straw it lasted a bit longer. :lol: as far as the pooping goes????? Good luck with that, if you figure it out let me know

Hi
Try using sawdust in the nest boxes. That is what I use. I have a 15 hole metal box on the wall in the main coop. It has perches in front of each row and my hens like sitting on them and yes they do poop some in the nest boxes. My option would be to flip up those bars at night. I don't, but I should. Quite a few hens have favorite boxes. And more than once, I have seen them line up and wait for their box. And not be happy because another hen beat them to it.
My current number is 60 hens plus 4 roosters that I am keeping. I also have some junior roosters that I am waiting to get some size to them. Not what I planned on, but I hatched this summer and got more roosters than I wanted.

Your option due to the style of nest boxes that you have would be to put something in the boxes at night, so the hens can't get into them. Only thing I can think of real quick would be something like gallon milk jugs full of water. Or empty plastic buckets.
Hubby built our roosts out of 2 by 4's. They are quite sturdy and the hens use them the most. I also have a few birds, that roost anywhere they want to, which makes no sense to me. One likes the ledge over the door.

Our add on room to our coop, is a tarped carport. I had to put 2 metal nestboxes in that room up on a wire cage to make several hens happy.
I do use sawduet and a little hay in those. I have come to the conclusion that even though I understand my chickens for the most part, that there will always be several birds that are exceptions to any rule.

Chickens tend to roost at the highest point. You might want to lower your nest boxes so that the roosting poles are the highest thing in the coop. As far as the number of nest boxes, you're fine. The hens will pick their favorites.

As far as the hens scratching when you put in new straw- if you're using wheat straw, it's going to keep happening. They are looking for goddies in it. You could consider making the nest boxes enclosed so more straw will stay inside. You could also put some straw on the ground when you put some in the nest boxes so that they will hopefully scratch around in that instead.

Nice looking chickens!