How do you keep your eggs clean?

[chicksgalore]

How do you keep your eggs clean? It seems like no matter how much hay I keep in the boxes, the girls still poop all over them.

 

[debilorrah]

Are they sleeping the boxes?

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Have you ever tried using wood shavings...not cedar.....and are your nest boxes covered so they cannot roost on the sides....the shavings and covering the nest boxes really helped me....Good Luck

 

[chicksgalore]

The coop they are in now does not have enough roosting space and yes, they sometimes sleep in the boxes, although I've noticed they usually cram into two of them and keep the other two for laying...

I have larger coops I'm going to be moving them into though and there are nesting boxes attached to the walls of these where the hens will have to jump up into--how do you keep the bedding in the boxes though--mine keep scratching it out.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

I have two kinds of nesting boxes two are made of wood ...like a open box with a with a piece of wood about 5 inches high across the bottom and I also have three made out of while buckets that my hubby quickly made up for me ....he cut the bucket in half and cut a "U ' shape opening in the front and added a piece of wood on each for the chickens to jump onto.....we placed them under the wooden ones so they would be covered...I put lots of shavings in ....hope that helps

 

[chicksgalore]

2468Chickensrgr8, my boxes in the new coop sound like your bucket version. That's an idea though--I think I'll add a higher slab of wood across the front to keep them from kicking the stuff out so easily. Thanks.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Glad I could help...you never know what these chickens are thinking...I still get the odd egg under the roosts ...splat in the poop...that would become a doggie treat....good nite

 

[gritsar]

Make sure your nest boxes are lower than your roosts. Chickens instinctively want to go high as possible to roost. I use hay in my nest boxes. Seems most people prefer shavings, but I like the hay a whole lot better. Even if they do poop in the box, the hay is loosely packed enough that the poo falls thru to the bottom instead of sitting on top like it did with shavings. Plus it's much harder for them to kick a wad of hay out of the box.
I have one hen that no matter what I do insists on sleeping on the nest boxes. For more than a week now I have been going out there at night with a penlight and moving her to a roost. She's finally catching on and has stayed on the roost for the past two nights.

 

[Attack Chicken]

I use some of the critter bedding for rabbits and the chickens love it. Keeps the eggs pretty clean to.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

I just make sure there is bedding in the nests stay pretty clean and protects for cracking which can make even a bigger disaster.