egg is cracking on the wooden nest box...

[sunket77]

I have 4 nest boxes, 3 are plastic bins and one is a wooden nest box. Only 2 of my pullets are laying and they have been fighting over one of the plastic nest boxes and only laying in that one. But today one picked the wooden one and I just happened to be standing near to here it drop. It sounded loud so I ran out in case it did crack I didn't want her to eat it. The egg was in tact but had a couple "hairline" fractures where dropped. The shells are good and hard (as hard as store bought) and the bedding is hay. Of course for some reason they push all the hay to one side of the box. Has anyone else had a problem with eggs cracking from hitting the wood to hard? Should I take out the wooden box? I have 10 pullets. Thanks!

 

[ranchhand]

I ended up screwing a piece of scrap carpet in the bottom, easy to take out and either clean or replace. Thin foam sheeting works, too, but it tears up more rapidly.

It's so frustrating, and no amount of "talking to" will make them pay attention!

 

[chookchick]

Put in more straw! If there is enough straw in there they won't be ABLE to push it to the side. They'll make a nice little nest and be happy. But a little pad or carpeting wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Line the bottom with cardboard or linoleum flooring (easy to clean).

 

[NoseyChickens]

I put a paper bag at the bottom and then cover with shavings. It works really well and helps with easy cleaning too.

 

[gritsar]

I pack my nestboxes so full of hay there's no way the hens could push it all out far enough to expose the bottom of the nest.

 

[Phage]

We put a piece of cardboard down under the straw and that fixed the problem.

 

[pixie74943]

more calcium

'hard as store bought' isnt very good to me. Maybe your store eggs have good shells, but mine are pretty wussy

 

[2DogsFarm]

My nestboxes are old wooden fruit crates.
I fill them with pine shavings - about 3" deep - and so far the 2 pullets who have started laying have kicked the shavings around some & rearranged them into nests but no eggs have been broken.
The shavings pack down where they sit and make it cushy.

 

[Jen4]

Mine do that too! Going to have to try some of these ideas