Nest box lining material Q- is it necessary?

[Acre4Me]

usually a nestbox has, well...nesting material in it. Straw, hay, shavings, or those washable mats used in the pre-fab wall mount types. Is the nesting material needed?

My spouse says get rid of it, I say they won’t lay without something to scratch around in, and situate to their liking.

Our nesting box has a slick floor bc my spouse built it using some old pre-finished bamboo flooring boards with the finished side up. There are curtains in the front for privacy and the hens do use the box for laying. The floor is sloped a bit to get eggs towards the back of the box for ease of collection, however the nesting material gets in the way and we still have to hunt around for eggs, so spouse suggested removing the nesting material.
Thoughts?

 

[Polish Hen House]

Your chicken most likely will not lay in the box if there is no nesting material. I would suggest shredded newspaper as lining if you are having a hard time finding the eggs. If your hens lay white eggs use darker paper and light paper for brown eggs. I hope this helps. Also if you hens don’t lay in the nesting box you will have a much harder time finding the eggs.

 

[50-45-1]

If the problem is the slipery boards maybe some of that stuff they sell to line your kitchen cubords with would help the hens not slide down the slope. The stuff i have is called GRIPPIT and i got it at the dollar store. You could even use adhesive and glue it in there so it does not move Then straw on top of that. I use straw for my nesting boxes.

 

[aart]

I had a situation where one bird was shredding all the nesting material and most of it ended up outside the nests. The birds still laid in the nests, just more likely to break an egg.
Most roll out nests don't have something to 'scratch around'...just some kind of padding to avoid breakage.

 

[Acre4Me]

If the problem is the slipery boards maybe some of that stuff they sell to line your kitchen cubords with would help the hens not slide down the slope. The stuff i have is called GRIPPIT and i got it at the dollar store. You could even use adhesive and glue it in there so it does not move Then straw on top of that. I use straw for my nesting boxes.

I had avoided using anything like that due to the concern that the hens would peck at it, eat it, destroy it. BUT, if it works and would not harm them if they did try it out for taste, then this could be a great solution! So, has the stuff held up in your birds nests?

 

[Acre4Me]

Your chicken most likely will not lay in the box if there is no nesting material. I would suggest shredded newspaper as lining if you are having a hard time finding the eggs. If your hens lay white eggs use darker paper and light paper for brown eggs. I hope this helps. Also if you hens don’t lay in the nesting box you will have a much harder time finding the eggs.

We have the excelsior stuff sold for next boxes, and it is staying clean, and the birds seem to like it, it just ends up in the back egg collection area. We have white, brown, and green egg layers!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

In the past I used a cheap "AstroTurf" door mat cut to size

 

[Acre4Me]

In the past I used a cheap "AstroTurf" door mat cut to size

Thats is a good idea, as well! Thanks!