cracked eggs! help!

[kittykorat]

About half of our eggs end up cracked!
it's usually a hairline crack, or a small spiderweb shaped crack as if it cracked on impact with the nestbox.
The membrane is intact, so still edible.. but so frustrating!
I use hay as bedding in the nestbox, and they kick it out, eat it, or make a circular nest with no hay in the center where the egg is laid.

should I change bedding? Find a way to cushion the bottom of the nestbox?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Have you got enough of a lip on the front so they can't kick the bedding out? I use hay but they don't kick it out or make the nest all the way down to the bottom. Is your hay deep enough? Since they will make a nest, you can have the same problem with any nesting material if it is not deep enough.

Some people use a piece of outdoor carpet on the wood. Maybe you could try cardboard or something else to soften it.

 

[KDbeads]

I've lined the bottom of my boxes with that craft foam you can get in 8x10 sheets. I rubber cemented them in place so my little beasts can't pull them out. In the milk crates some of them use I have several layers of cardboard wrapped in heavy glossy sales flyers topped with shavings. They still manage to toss all the shavings out but my cracked egg problem has almost gone away. Now if they'll stop fighting over the nest boxes and pecking/jumping on the eggs during the fighting we'll be good.

 

[5acrefarmer]

I've have a simular problem. The egg has a hole in it like they poked one of their nails in it. I have not done it yet, but the next time to the feed store I'm going to but some oyster shells. They make the shells harder. On the nest box ordeal I read that you can also use some old carpet on the bottom to cushion the eggs. Mine likes to kick the hay out too and have just the bottom of the box.