Nesting box material?

[lahowardjr]

I use hay because it's a free by-product of my hay bailing. But...The hens seem to push of kick it to the coop floor. I think I'll try the wood shavings and see if there is a better result.

 

[Chickroo]

I use pine shavings in their coop and nest boxes. We do scoop the poop out of the coop each day (wearing gloves and picking through the shavings). The chickens seem to like how soft it is. It stays clean and dry, and is good insulation in the cold too. Once as month I do a complete change out of the bedding. Ialso sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth in the shavings to prevent any bugs.

 

[Branumdragon]

We use newspaper. Our Easter Egger destroys it and everyone else uses the shredded paper for nests. Izzy (The EE) lays on a plastic chair.

 

[stone_family3]

Currently we use pine shavings, but I'm thinking of trying paper. Mostly because I deliver papers and always have a lot left over. I was thinking it would be much easier to just dump in the compost if need be.

 

[nok13]

i line with newspapers; they shred them, and slowly the papers find their way to the floor of the coop and then to the yard and join the soil which i turn over with a hoe all the time... i shredded it up a bit first, not flat lining... like strips... and then i put wood shavings on that, and sometimes i throw in old leaves and stuff too

 

[Kikiriki]

I was using newspaper but it left ink smeared on the eggs so I switched to crumpled brown paper. I just moved the girls housing so I modified their nest box. It was just a box sitting on concrete blocks, and attached to the side of the coop. I found that it got really full of sand from their dust bathing. Eggs were always crusted with sand, even with daily cleaning! I hung the nestbox in the new area, and gave it a hardware cloth bottom. I added grapefruit tree leaves because the brown paper was not holding up. The box has a lovely, mild citrus smell now! The girls adjusted to the changes the same day: I showed them where the new entrance was and all three piled in! The side that used to be the entrance is now a hardware cloth window that is next to a small palm tree. It was not as shaded as I thought it would be, so they have a curtain that is just a kitchen towel of thin flour sack material: they can still see through it, and it allows airflow. The girls and I are all happy with the new arrangement

I need to charge the camera and get some photos!

 

[Ramp45]

I've tried almost everything I could think of in the boxes (paper, shavings, straw). They would just scratch it out so my eggs were filthy and some broke. Now I'm using artificial turf cut to fit. I love it so far. It's easy to clean and I had enough to cut extras so I can replace them while the old ones are cleaned. Now my eggs are clean and intact. I highly recommend the artificial turf.

 

[jessegaw]

Hi all, i have a question in regards to sugar cane mulch. We are currently using that in our nest boxes however i have a feeling the chooks are eating it ajd will end up with impacted crop. Any other suggestions as to what to use? We were thinking saw dust

 

[MEMama3]

We use newspaper. Our Easter Egger destroys it and everyone else uses the shredded paper for nests. Izzy (The EE) lays on a plastic chair.

There's one in every flock! Lol

 

[kjisanne]

Hi folks. So I've taken to washing and combing my own wool fleeces to spin into my own yarn to knit. Question is, I have bits of the fleece left over that are full of grass, tiny knots and basically just isn't usable after I comb it out. Can I put this in my nest boxes for my chickens?

I normally use pine shavings in my coop but since my girls started laying, it just gets scratched out.