My girls often scoop so much of their nesting material out of the way that they lay right onto the plywood of the nestbox and the eggs sometimes crack. Somewhere along that way I heard about some sort of liner that can be purchased that goes on the floor of the nestbox and softens the blow so the eggs don't crack and is also very easy to keep clean. Does anyone know what I am talking about? If so, what is this called so I can try to find it. Even better, if you know an online resource where I can buy that'd be great. Thank you! CJ
What about using pieces of the artificial turf (fake grass) stuff they used to use on patios? Maybe people still use it, I'm not sure. But, I think I've see stuff like that at Home Depot or Lowes. If I remember correctly, it's got about a 1/4 in raise to it and would help cushion the eggs as they drop.
http://www.randallburkey.com/Plastic-Nest-Pad-For-Standard-Nest-Box/productinfo/10107/ There are lots of other places online that you can get nest pads, and maybe a local farm store would have them too.
My son is currently trying the "plastic grass" inside of his milk crate nesting boxes with limited success with his older flock. The biggest problem he is having is the hens are picking at the ends of the plastic grass and pulling it through the black matting. We're looking at possibly adding some carpet padding underneath in the milk crates or making nesting boxes in the new coop which would allow the egg to roll into a catch basin outside of the nesting/coop area.
