Bedding for Broody Hens?

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redrodeo

redrodeo

In the Brooder
Apr 21, 2015
75
8
43
Hedley British Columbia Canada
I have a 3" lip on all my nest boxes to help keep the bedding in the nest boxes. I have a piece of foam in the bottom of each nest box. It is the kind of click lock flooring you get for children's play rooms. This helps to prevent the eggs from braking or cracking when a hen lays them. I have tried using straw, and shavings in my nest boxes but most of it gets pushed out by my hens. I have one hen who picks out the shaving piece by piece before she lays an egg and I can't seem to get her to stop. I am not overly concerned about those nest boxes, but I am setting up some nest boxes for some broody hens.

I was wondering what kind of bedding would be best for a broody bantam hen, and what I can do to help keep the bedding in the nest box. Any suggestions or tips would be helpful
Thank you
 
Can you increase the lip on the box by another 3 " ? I have had great luck with using grass hay as a nesting material for broody hens. It is soft and allows them to form a good bowl shaped nest.
 
Be careful of lips and broody hens. A while back I was using one of my normal nesting boxes with a 4" lip , during the first few hours of hatch two of the little guys fell out and could not get back up, and momma was waiting for the rest of the eggs..

After that, I made a new broody box that is a little bigger, but has no lip at all. It has worked well for the broody hens. I just leave it on the floor in the pen until someone goes broody, then isolate it for privacy.
 
My nest broody nest boxes are sitting at floor level in my coop, and are only ever open to the hens when one of them goes broody. My regular nest boxes are up off the ground. I don't want to increase the lip size as my hens are a bantam breed and like Aust1227 I don't want to have a chick fall out of the nest box and not be able to get back in. My nest broody nest boxes are about and a size and half bigger then my other nest boxes. I have tried hay, and regular grass but my hens just seem to want to eat it, or just toss it out of the nest boxes. Would shredded paper like the kind you can buy for rabbits be okay in a nest box?
 

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