My Chickens Keep Moving the Hay out of the Nesting Boxes

[NekhilG]

Hi Again!

My chickens have recently started laying eggs and I have started to put hay in the nesting boxes. They are using the nesting boxes which is great unfortunately thought they are moving the hay out of the nesting boxes. I know they are not sleeping in the boxes, I read up and an article said that they like to scratch it until they are used to it. If this is true, how long until they are going to stop and should I keep readjusting it? I don't have a ton of time to keep putting the hay back into the boxes.

Please Help,

Nekhil!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Young layers tend to be more vigorous in the boxes, often scratching out the bedding. I like a hay shavings combo. Keep replacing it. It should become less as they get used to laying.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

My six girls kick out the pine shavings, check out the boxes, and toss out the ceramic eggs on a regular basis. I often find those fake eggs several feet away from the nest boxes.
They leave the lone real egg that ONE of them is laying alone, however. Even if I hold it up to them as an example of what they should be doing, they give it a soft peck and turn away.
I am thinking it is a chicken thing.

 

[sourland]

Put a larger/higher lip on the nest boxes so that they are unable to kick out the hay.

 

[Folly's place]

My boxes have about a 3" lip, and it would need to be a lot higher to prevent the hens from 'rearranging' everything almost daily. Shavings, hay, whatever, all gets moved around and moved out. I just keep adding more, and figure that the stuff they drop adds to the litter on the floor. Redoing the lip on the boxes probably isn't going to happen here, although that would help.
Mary

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

I figure they are just doing their chicken thing and refill the nesting boxes as needed. They look happy, healthy, and content.
Minor pecking order stuff but, in general, pretty darn good girls.

 

[aart]

Put a larger/higher lip on the nest boxes so that they are unable to kick out the hay.

Ditto Dat^^^

Still, could take a couple weeks after the last one starts laying.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It's a young layer thing. I kept finding bedding and fake eggs kicked out of the box in the weeks before the first one started laying, and then gradually things calmed down. I only have about a 1" lip on my box but that's good enough once they get the hang of laying.

 

[SonoranChick]

Yes to all of the above....young layers tend to "play" in the box. This is easily solved by giving your entrance a lip as others have suggested, or you could try using swamp cooler pads. They're made of natural material and they can't be scratched apart but provide ample cushioning for the box. Plus they're fairly affordable. Good luck!

 

[Fairview01]

Yes to all of the above....young layers tend to "play" in the box. This is easily solved by giving your entrance a lip as others have suggested, or you could try using swamp cooler pads. They're made of natural material and they can't be scratched apart but provide ample cushioning for the box. Plus they're fairly affordable. Good luck!

Swamp cooler pads. Terrific idea. Not edible like hay, not absorbent but porous to allow contents of a broken egg to drain away.

I use homer buckets as nest boxes. Cut off half the bottom. I used straw stalks that I collected from the run after they got all the seeds out of it. Absolutely no interest in scratching it out I think because unlike hay which is edible, coarse straw stalks aren't. They actually make a fairly nice real nest in the bucket. I guess they wiggle their butt back and forth as the straw gets pushed up along the sides after about a week. I just have to pat it back down.

As far as the swamp cooler pad goes I use it in the next nest box I insert. They finally decided using the homer bucket is better than just squirting them out in the coop wherever. Not going to upset the consensus that that homer bucket is the place to lay by changing something in it.