How can I get my young hens to stop pulling all the straw from their nestboxes?

[mickey328]

Even though they have 2 boxes, all 6 of ours use the same one for laying. About half of them like lots of straw and the other half like it pretty much bare. We cut a piece of welcome mat, the kind with the plastic bristles for wiping your feet on, and put a piece in each box. They can scratch to their hearts' content and not harm it or pull any off to eat, and when it gets icky, we pull them out and hose them off. With the mat there, even if all the straw is out, the eggs still have the support of the bristles. It works great!