Oh dear!... an accident in the nest box

[Metanoia]

My darling Hazel broke one of her beautiful eggs today after spending about 20 minutes trying to make the ideal nest.... and by making the ideal nest I really mean pushing aside all of the straw down to bare wood!

I actually caught it on camera. There are a couple of videos.

Check the blog entry first? http://backyardhens.blogspot.com/2009/08/hazel-lays-egg.html

Straight to the video with the audible clunk of the egg hitting wood! http://www.flickr.com/photos/29577744@N06/3825389949/

 

[Chick_a_dee]

That happens quite often around here for some reason. We have 4 nest boxes for the 15 gals (but they're 16x16 boxes LOL) and usually it's about 4 to a box, or they'll take turns. But someone always pushes the hay aside and lays and then smashes her egg by accident. I actually had mean hen (that's her official name now) lay an egg and it must have dropped quite a ways cause it hit another egg and cracked.

Sigh, they get so angry when I change nest materials..

 

[crazyhen]

I put a small square of foam in the bottom of my nest and cover it with nest material. That way the bottom is soft. I hope this helps. Gloria Jean

 

[Mahonri]

I think I'm going to need to do that... GLUE some foam to the bottom of the nest.

I get a crack on one egg at least once a week because of that... but most times it's because of the favorite box syndrome and an egg hitting an egg... wish they didn't have to stand up to do it!

 

[Metanoia]

This is a great idea. I shall have to hunt down some foam. Do you think felt would be enough? I have a role of 10cm felt that I could lay out and glue down. It is about 0.5cm thick

The hen scratched like crazy, so I guess I don't really want anything she could rip apart with her feet or it defeats the purpose

 

[Metanoia]

Another thought: Would putting an artificial egg, like a golf ball, encourage this hen to leave the nesting material where it is next time? The other girls seem to make a proper nest without having to dig to china.