Egg boxes

[Shadrach]

My hens are just starting to lay(i have 5) and they keep kicking all of the bedding out of the egg boxes. How do i prevent this. Because of this the first egg i found was broken in the box because there was absolutely no bedding.

They do this because they are trying to make a hollow in the bottom of the egg box.
This article explains a little about it.
@Pork Pie use of earth is ime better than any of the loose bedding. If you can keep the earth slightly damp even better.
While you're think about egg box problems it may be worth considering what makes an adequate box for just laying eggs isn't necessarily so good if you are planning on letting your hens sit and hatch in them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I’ll post a picture of what we have as soon as i pick my daughter up from school. But our other chickens never had a problem so I’m lost lol

Sounds great, maybe we can figure it out.

 

[sealer39]

Pullets will do this. My pullets this year acted like they were trying to dig a hole through the bottom of the plywood nest box when they first began to lay. They are all still less than a year old and they have calmed down considerably. At first, I gave up trying to keep hay in their boxes and used some old carpet padding and cut a carpet runner to shape to go on top of the padding. That kept the eggs from breaking during their excessive scratching phase.

 

[Shadrach]

This is a nest I took a hen off this evening. This is a good nest. She's made a basket in the grass and below the eggs is a patch of bare earth she scraped away.
It's a good nest because all the eggs were touching until I disturbed them by lifting her off.
Because she can sit on top of the pile, rather than having the eggs spread around her, it means she can keep the eggs dry and move them around without them rolling out from underneath her.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Put a 3 to 4 inch lip on the box to help keep in the shavings. They still kick out some, but not all. . The nests in my new coop had a lip 1.5 inches. I added another 1.5 inches. I would've added 2.5 inches, but the opening isn't tall enough.
My Barred Rocks liked to kick out the shavings, arranging the nest to their liking when they started to lay.
At 14 months old tomorrow, they are more careful.
My first Flock, Golden Comets, I used straw in the nests and didn't have that problem. . GC

 

[aart]

Typical pullet behavior.
Deeper nest helps.....I use a thick flake of straw shoved in tight and 'bowled out' a bit.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not sure what your boxes look like, but a nice high lip in the front will help hold in bedding. I use wood shavings as the nest material and then a feed bag folded to fit snugly in the bottom of the nest box as free, easy to toss, padding that can't be scratched out.

 

[Montanomom3]

Here are our boxes

 

[aart]

Here are our boxes

Definitely needs higher fronts...4-6" from top of bedding.
..and those could use larger tops so no poop ends up in nests.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

View attachment 1935302 View attachment 1935303 Here are our boxes

Hi. I would put a deeper lip on the fronts.