Nesting box materials… help!

[meliissaamurray]

I have tried everything!!! Foam puzzle mats, hay, faux grass, and now the hay mats and my girls dig straight to the wood bottom in just a couple days. Theyve cracked so many eggs.. What’re we using for nesting box bottoms so they can’t scratch to the floor

 

[nuthatched]

Cut a horse mat and put it on the bottom, raise the sides of the box so they can nest.

 

[RojoMarz]

I have pads that are like this...they are kinda "poky", so I added hay on top. The hens still dig around, but the hay gets stuck in the points of the pad, so it all doesn't get kicked out. When the hay gets too thin, I just add more.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

We have "deep" hay in ours so that our girls and adjust it how they want, but if I make it into a bowl they enjoy it even more. In some of my boxes I do have pads that I cut from feed bags to help pad it but the hay--cut hay and bale hay is pretty thick. Just a suggestion since she keeps digging, maybe to pad the sides?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I fold empty feed bags to snuggly fit the nest box, the birds don't dislodge them with scratching and it provides enough padding that normal eggs don't crack even if all the nesting material is pushed aside.