Hen cleaning out nesting boxes!!

[asinnamon]

So we have this goofy little Aracuana. Yesterday, we did a spring cleaning of the coop and run. This little girl kept coming in scratching around and acting funny, so we figured she wanted to lay. In went shavings and out we went to give her some privacy. Wouldn't you know it, we heard scratching from the laying boxes. We listened and listened as she went down the line of boxes, scratching out all the shavings down to the wooden floor!! We filled them back up to see what she would do. Ofcourse, she cleaned them back out. We finally heard a thunk and sure enough, she laid an egg on the bare wood floor. What a goofy bird!

Is there anything else we can try? We have used straw, hay and shavings(both fine and chunky). We have been getting some cracked eggs lately and I think it's because this bird keeps taking out all the nesting material. Thx!!

 

[Judy]

I had that problem when I used pine shavings, but it stopped when I switched to hay, for me. Well, the first time I had this problem, they were open front nests that did not have a high enough lip across the bottom front.

You can pick up some of that rubbery shelf lining and tack a couple of layers to the bottom of the nest, use old carpet scraps if you have them lying around. I'd still put a little hay on top.