The carved soap needs to look only vaguely like an egg. I make a rough half-egg, then smooth it off under running warm water and put it in the nest round side up.
Hello. I just want to pass this along. If you suspect your hens are eating their own eggs, here is a cure: carve one (or more) egg-shaped forms from a light colored bar of soap and put it in the nest. They will peck it two or three times and then give up on the idea of getting something from...