Chickens cleaning out my nest boxes

[cfurry2000]

I am new to raising chickens. I bought 4 pullets about 2 months ago and everything was good till I added some smaller pullets that I had raised from day old chicks. Every since the addition of the younger pullets the nest boxes are cleaned out within a week of me adding nesting material to them. I have tried pine shaving and hay for nesting material. The older pullets should be laying age but they dont have anything to nest in because the nest boxes are empty. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[GitaBooks]

My chickens do the same thing. They seem to want the nest box to be just perfect, and end up with a dirty mess that leads to broken and dirty eggs. Wood shavings seemed to last longer for me than hay/straw for me, but I use both.
For me, I've just learned to refill them occasionally, especially since they are filled with a soft layer of dust (not clean but at least its dry) that cushions the eggs. The dust isn't kicked out and the hay seems to last for at least a few weeks.
You could try adding a bigger lip to the nest box to hold in the nesting material. There are even mats that they sell for nest boxes that are suppose to be comfortable for the hens, easy to clean, and good for the eggs.
Adding a fake egg to the nest could stop them from doing it, but our chickens just kicked the fake eggs out.

Good luck to you!

 

[redfordchick]

Mine kick it all out daily, along with the fake eggs. BUT last night someone actually laid their egg in one of the boxes. They seem to get all hissy with me when I add more stuff to the boxes.

 

[GitaBooks]

This is just a thought, but maybe there are bugs in the nest boxes that they are going after? Or maybe they think there is food in them?
Congratulations on the egg! Who knows, maybe the hens just like the nest boxes empty. Its hard to know the mind of a chicken, they can be so stubborn at times.

 

[redfordchick]

This is just a thought, but maybe there are bugs in the nest boxes that they are going after? Or maybe they think there is food in them?
Congratulations on the egg! Who knows, maybe the hens just like the nest boxes empty. Its hard to know the mind of a chicken, they can be so stubborn at times.

I use milk crates and the lip needs to be higher. I think they are just rearranging and because the lip is only a couple inches it all goes flying out. Will have to do something different soon to address that.

 

[GitaBooks]

I've used lots of different things for nest boxes, from boxes to crates, cages, buckets, metal cans, and hay bales. The crates and boxes, without lips, tend to get emptied out, so that could be the problem.

 

[cfurry2000]

The lip on my nest boxes is about 2 1/2" tall. I will add a little more to them and see what that does. Thanks

 

[Memeschix]

My nest boxes are cat litter boxes. I use the top and bottom each for a nest with hay in them, so it makes 4 nest boxes. The problem I have is they ( 7 hens!) all want the same box. Yesterday I put an egg in each box to encourage them to use all boxes, but , the first box that was sat in became the most wanted! Silly chickens!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

My nest boxes are cat litter boxes. I use the top and bottom each for a nest with hay in them, so it makes 4 nest boxes. The problem I have is they ( 7 hens!) all want the same box. Yesterday I put an egg in each box to encourage them to use all boxes, but , the first box that was sat in became the most wanted! Silly chickens!

This is quite natural/normal -- the first nest to be used for the day has gotten the "good coop-keeping seal of approval" from a hen, so the following hens are drawn to also use that box (often with more than one occupying it at the same time). Essentially, another hen has successfully left an egg there, so it is perceived as a safe spot to lay their own egg. What you may have better luck with in encouraging use of other boxes is to use bait items (ie golf balls) that can be left in the nests more consistently than you can do with using the real eggs - experiment with it by putting 2-3 balls in a nest or two and see what results you get.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

OP - a deeper lip will likely solve your issue, and will also keep their enthusiastic re-arrangement from moving eggs out of the box after the laying starts. Some birds are more active in their investigation of the boxes than others, some hens are more into renovation when they go into lay for the day (I have one that does so much digging and flinging she basically ends up tunneled into the nest materiel, almost entirely buried and hidden ) - having a nice deep lip allows for all of this without having to worry about too much (bedding or eggs) getting knocked out of the nests.