Best material to line nesting boxes?

[dieselgrl48]

I use hay or pine shaving's in mine.I generaly use hay for standard breed's.I don't use straw I find it too stiff personaly especialy for bantam's like silkie's, frizzle's etc.If you free rage you will find egg's in Kooky places lol.In a lawn sweeper,On a lawn mower seat,An unused flower pot, behind a board with leave's, in an old bucket...They pick a spot and that is what they like lol.But if penned just about anything covered with a lil cushion will fancy them.

 

[Tamrajh]

We recently changed from hay to pine shavings (big long shavings) and they don't seem to like it much. We left a couple of boxes with the hay in there and for a few days they laid all the eggs in those boxes. They still lay most of the eggs in those boxes.
Hay does make a better cushion for their tushies and the eggs.

 

[thekla]

I use orchard grass hay for the nests, they love it (and sometimes eat it too) is smells really sweet and nice. I use a combination of the finer type of straw and wood shavings in the coop and use a coarser straw outside to control the mud. Although they will also make a nest on top if the straw bales and lay eggs there, so I also put some of the softer straw in a couple nest out in the alley outside the coop (mixed with the hay) and usually have several hens use those nests every day. But then again sometimes they leave eggs out on the cement slab or in the woods or, on my front steps, so apparently they aren't always too picky.

 

[stilldeb]

I was going to use straw until I saw how the wheat straw was grown all around us on the farm we are surrounded by. First of all, it is genetically modified to resist Roundup because when I put it down in my dog's pen and some wheat grew up, Roundup would not kill it. Then, they CROPDUSTED the stuff (and my 15 yr old toothless dog, my yard, and the stuff blew into my windows and I have asthma, multiple illnesses) and a full grown rabbit came out of the field and dropped dead in my yard. They have not harvested the wheat yet, but I don't eat the stuff (I eat organic/grass-fed/etc., thank you Michael Pollan!) and this all happened before I got my chicks, and not putting that crap under my babies. Scary stuff. Is hay treated differently?

deb g

 

[New2Peeps]

I use pine shavings on the coop floor and used to put it in the nest boxes, but switched one box to straw to see if they liked it and that was the box they always used, so both nests are now straw lined. They seem to like to rearrange the straw and it does make nice bowl shaped nests.

 

[MareeZoCool]

My farming friends have told me that straw is only good to use for bedding or floor covering. Hay is used for feeding cattle & horses, it has seed heads,similar to grains.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

I tried straw and it was OK but broke down faster then the pine shavings I'm now using. I put it deep in the boxes and on the floor and in the boxes it too will hold a bowl shape. A caution about some hay...it contains seeds which may or may not be killed if you compost it before using it in a garden. I let my straw break down by spreading it out on the dirt...it got wet, and developed a good crop of worms and bugs. Never got moldy. Everyone loves digging around in it. I'm planning on putting it in the bottom of my raised beds. Those are to be 18" high and filled with sifted loam I'm having hauled in.

 

[gbinpdx]

I'm using shredded paper--best use for shredded bills, ever.

It's free, it holds onto DE for mite-prevention and holds a bowl shape well when they settle in.

 

[3chimama]

Love the shredded paper idea!! I will have to try that!

 

[lotzahenz]

I use mixed grass horse hay in the winter and fresh, dried yard grass in the summer. I allow the grass to dry for a couple of days in the sun, then rake it up in piles and collect it in the hottest part of the day and store it in paper bags. I line the nest very deep with it and it is soft and very cushy. Don't use it wet though, it will mold. HenZ