Keep nesting box neater?

[mendozer]

A minor, but irritating issue here.

I have a two-space nesting box that has a lip and I fill it with wood shavings. It seems they LOVE to scratch around and knock out the shavings, so the eggs are dropping right on the cardboard, which is fine I guess. But the shavings are falling through the slatted floor into the poop drawers.

So are the shavings really needed? (I bought a giant 10 cu ft bag long ago so I can't just switch to hay)

 

[weimanator]

I would say yes, I had a similar problem and I kept getting dirty eggs and sometimes broken ones. I ended up adding a larger lip and hay and problem solved!

 

[mommissan]

A friend of mine uses a piece of outdoor carpet, the green carpet stuff.... Just rinse when dirty, soft spot for eggs to land in.

 

[mendozer]

I was thinking of making a whole new box with a bigger lip. If I add a bigger one to this one, the opening would shrink down so I don't want to do that. What's a good measure? 4 inch lip?

 

[mendozer]

Quote:
like astroturf?

 

[mendozer]

you know what? I have a big sheet of astroturf covering my wood, something left behind by owners. I could cut a piece of that and lay it over the shavings. That way it's still cushy but nothing spills out

Might not work at all, but I'll try

 

[7L Farm]

I add more shavings I want the girls to be comfortable while they are laying.

 

[Mamaboid]

I have shavings on the floor and hay in the nest boxes for just this reason. I got tired of broken eggs and no shavings left in the nests. Hay works much better and I also stopped getting eggs layed in the corner on the floor.

 

[mendozer]

well my floor is slatted, so i don't want anything on it. Although the very first night they laid one on the floor and the egg fit right in the slat space.

 

[mendozer]

i tried laying the astroturf over the shavings. They scratched out the turf and made a nest again. Dang. I tried putting it back in to see what's gunna happen.