Hens are sleeping in the nest boxes...

[jondecker76]

I just bought my first 5 chickens, and built my own tractor. They are only 7 months old, and right now only one has laid in the last couple of days (i'm not sure if the trauma from the move maked them stop laying, or if they simply haven't laid yet)

I've noticed that at night, the birds all sleep in the nest boxes (which are in the highest and darkest spot). There are plenty of perches elsewhere.. They will even double-up in a single nestbox (2 chickes per 12"x12"x12" nestbox)
Is this normal?

 

[SunnyChic]

Congrats on buying chickens! The roosts need to be higher than the nest boxes; they normally like to roost in the highest spot available. Hopefully, you can move your nest boxes down, and your roosts up. Different chickens start laying at different times; it depends on the breed. I thought mine would never start laying, but they finally began around 8 months.

 

[angel28]

Have the nestboxes pretty low and the perches up high about 2 ft off the floor, most chickens are able to fly at least 4 ft up in the air.
Even if you have a heavier breed they should be able to fly up to 3 ft.

 

[jondecker76]

I guess I'm going to have to think of a way to do this.. This is in a chicken tractor, so it won't quite be as easy as simply moving a set of nest boxes unfortunately. Thanks for the advice!

 

[angel28]

And be careful of putting perches directly over another, the chicken on the bottom will get poo on its head

Good luck. I'm sure your chickens will appreciate your work