Need Nest Box Help PLEASE!!

[mylilchix]

Ahhh, my girls are driving me nuts. I try to keep about 4" of pine shavings in the nest boxes, but my girls keep kicking the majority out so they can lay on the wood. I've been getting a bunch of slighty cracked eggs because of it. What can I do to my nest boxes to soften them so the girls won't lay on the wood?

Thanks,
Sonja

 

[Buster]

Do you have pine shavings in the rest of the coop? My thought is that if they don't have anywhere else to scratch around, maybe they are scratching in the boxes. You might try another bedding such as straw as well and see if they are as prone to scratch that.

 

[Marlinchaser]

Do you have any type of board on the front of the boxes so they cant kick everything out??

 

[tinners204]

straw

 

[mylilchix]

I have a 2" board up in front of the boxes. They have pine shavings in the coop, and they scratch in that all the time. I had straw in the boxes, and they kick that around until they get to the wood. My girls are goofy!

Sonja

 

[Attack Chicken]

Glue a piece of carpet on the bottem

 

[redoak]

You could try some anti-fatigue mat or synthetic carpet pad stapled to the bottom of the next boxes.

 

[zatsdeb]

we use straw also, and they kick it out, but we just keep putting new straw in, and my DH built up the front a bit to keep the straw in better but they can still get in and out fine.

 

[Dawn419]

I usually use hay in the nest boxes.

We use pine shavings for the floor and they love dust bathing in the shavings so I can see them trying to dust bathe in the boxes, if I went that route.

The last bale of hay we got was full of stickered vines (Greenbrier Vine) , I believe, and decided not to use it for the boxes. Figured if it hurt me to try and pick all that dried vine out, it wouldn't feel good for the girls, either. So I used shredded paper and it's working pretty good. They do scratch around in it so I have to dig for eggs on occassion, but haven't had any problems with cracks.

Hope this helps!


Dawn

 

[miniwarrior]

I use hay- they make it into a nice nest shape. you have to add more occasionally, but i've never had a cracked egg.