two egg questions

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AnnieE

AnnieE

Chirping
5 Years
Dec 17, 2014
62
7
66
Southeast Michigan
Hi,

So my girls have taken to pushing the straw out of the nesting box before laying, so theyre laying on the underneath plywood. So i had six eggs laid the other day, and one was squashed by the time i got to them, so the others were coated with dried yolk. I couldnt wash it off, so i dropped them in a bowl of water already in the sink to soak and promptly forgot about them till the next day. The bowl was an empty dinner dish, so.... no... not completely clean water.

Are they still ok or should i compost them?

And while i have a lip on the nesting boxes, any other advice on keeping the straw in would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
I don't use straw in my nesting boxes. I use pine shavings they just seem to work better for that purpose. Also harder to kick all of it out. Though you would probably be fine if you cooked them I can't recommend eating the eggs. I also hate wasting things. Also don't put whole eggs in the compost. I would cook the eggs and feed them to the chickens. You can compost he shells or you can bake and then crush them and feed them back to your chickens for the calcium. The baking and crushing steps are necessary. Otherwise put the shells in the compost.
 
I use these mats. They are great; lasting for years and easy to keep clean.

http://www.qcsupply.com/420355-standard-nesting-pad.html

In addition, I slope the floor of the box so that the eggs roll away from the chickens, which prevent brooding, cannibalizing, and keeps the eggs immaculately clean. You can't achieve this with straw,wood chips, or any other organic material.

At first glance, I had serious doubts that the chickens would tolerate this surface, but none ever hesitated to lay on these.
 
x2 on the mats. They work great. I've had no broken eggs since I started using these in the nest boxes. I put a piece of vinyl flooring on the bottom of the wooden nest box, then add the mat, then add straw. The mat keeps the straw in place and acts as a cushion for the eggs. They can lay eggs directly on the plastic mat, but I prefer to add either pine chips and/or straw on top to make it more comfortable and nest-like.
 
Last edited:
I like straw, but have a curved 4" high (minimum) front on the nests.
If you have new layers they can really mess up the nest bedding, as well as other funky things, for the first month or so until they get it in the groove.

 
Not sure how high your lip is but my suggestion is to raise the lip regardless of current height. Can't hurt and might help. I've done that before and it did help.

What material you use is personal preference. I’m not going to criticize anyone for their choice. We are all unique and about anything can work if applied in a right way for that material.

After the grass is well dead and dried out I collect a pile of long strands of dead grass from around my fruit trees where I don’t weed-eat. I’ll use that for the coming year. What can I say, it’s free and I‘m cheap.
 

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