First egg......or so I thought.

[aart]

I opened up the nesting boxes and there it was...my first egg. After taking pictures and being so excited, I went in the run to visit the girls. When I knelt down to “talk” to them, imagine my surprise when there were 5 eggs sitting in their dust bath. Ugh! Since the dust bath was under to coop, I hadn’t looked there since I cleaned the run on Saturday. Won’t be eating those, but soon enough I will have plenty of eggs. I am enjoying these chickens even more than I thought I would!

That's a great story!

Put some fake eggs or golf balls in the nests to lure them to lay there.
Different bedding than coop floor might help too.

 

[pnwchicklvr]

That's a great story!

Put some fake eggs or golf balls in the nests to lure them to lay there.
Different bedding than coop floor might help too.

I have ceramic eggs in there. But I’m definitely going to change the bedding since they keep kicking it out anyways. I thought about maybe nesting pads??

 

[MROO]

How funny! What bedding or material are you using in your nest boxes? I find that mine enjoy wood shavings with many different scrap pieces of juniper or twigs in their nest boxes, woven together to create a little circle around the shavings.

Try some home-grown herbs, too. Any of the standard herbs you can eat are safe for them and make everything nice and sweet!

 

[aart]

I have ceramic eggs in there. But I’m definitely going to change the bedding since they keep kicking it out anyways. I thought about maybe nesting pads??

New layers will make mess of nests at first.
A nest front of 4-6" high will help.
Pads could work, never used them here.
I like a good flake of straw shoved in tight then 'bowled' out a bit.

 

[Birdsong 82]

What are these pads. Never heard of them. Mine like to make there own bowl shape. If I do it the immediately reconfigure it. Lol. Picky girls

 

[pnwchicklvr]

What are these pads. Never heard of them. Mine like to make there own bowl shape. If I do it the immediately reconfigure it. Lol. Picky girls

You can buy them on Amazon. I have no idea if they are any good. I just had to crawl under my coop for another egg.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I was just wondering what the are and purpose

 

[pnwchicklvr]

I was just wondering what the are and purpose

It’s compressed straw that they can scratch and it loosens up. I’m guessing a bag of straw is cheaper. That’s why I haven’t bought them.

 

[aart]

I’m guessing a bag of straw is cheaper.

Bale of straw or hay would be much cheaper.
Storing a bale can be an issue.
I made a 'bag' to store mine, takes about a sq ft of space and keeps it from spreading all over.

 

[pnwchicklvr]

Bale of straw or hay would be much cheaper.
Storing a bale can be an issue.
I made a 'bag' to store mine, takes about a sq ft of space and keeps it from spreading all over.

Great idea, that’s what I’ll do. Thanks for the tip.