nest boxes

[ga_goat]

What will stay in the nest box for the chickens to lay on instead of the hard pine board ?
already tried these - hay - pine straw - ¼" thick foam rubber stapled down - moss - sand - sherdded paper ,, all these with a 2" bar across the front of the box ,, they seem to make a contest out of who can get everything out and on the ground first . only about ½ of them use the boxes the rest lay on the ground in the corner of the henhouse .

 

[Judy]

Mine scratch out pine shavings and leave hay in there; that's all I've ever tired. But I use a 1x4 across the front, so 3.5" of board plus a small space under it so I can clean it out more easily.

 

[mstrawn3]

I use a combination of hay and pine shavings. My nests have a three inch lip on the front so the nest material stays in pretty well.

 

[cottage19]

I have given up trying to understand why our 7 girls do what they do. On any given day I find: 1. all eggs in the nest boxes 2. some in nests/some on floor. 3. some in nests/some on floor/some on poop board. 4. none in nests - all divided between floor, outside and/or occasionaly one or two on the workbench in barn.

Our girls have a spacious coop with nice nest boxes and a large attached run for the days they can't free range. Most days they are free to roam from sunup to sundown. They seem happy and are very social. As stated above - I just plain give up trying to figure out why they change their laying habits every now and then - I just chalk it up to chicken logic.

 

[QualityPolish]

Well, in my opinion I'm going to be using pine shavings. Our nesting boxes has a "lip" to somewhat help so it all doesn't flow out. Now some will still get on the floor from their scratching but I just haven't bothered to use anything else.

 

[featherbaby]

Quote:
Face it....Chickens are sweet and cute, but they ain't smart.

I think that's one of the things I find most endearing about them. They have no hidden agendas, no guile, they just go along in life: fat, dumb and happy. I should be more like that, I'd be a lot less stressed.