Our first eggs!!!

[anniemary]

We discovered our first eggs laying in the corner of our coop. It got my hubby to finally get the nesting boxes into the coop.

Quick question: We got our nesting boxes from a local farm. I cleaned them with bleach water and my husband did some minor repairs. They are quite old. The nest "floors" are wire grids for poop to fall through and they slope for the eggs to roll forward for ease in collecting.

My hubby and I aren't sure if we are supposed to put hay in nests. He says hay won't let the eggs won't roll forward, I say the hens won't be comfortable. This morning I found our third egg next to the nesting box.

Should we line them with hay? Will the eggs still roll forward?

Thanks!

Annie

 

[tulie13]

I don't know about whether hay would stop them or not - my hens sort of shove the hay around so it's next to their bodies. They then lay the egg on the bare wood of the box. So if you had some hay in there, they may or may not move it around so it doesn't interfere. You could try it both ways - if you have 2 boxes, put hay in one and none in the other, see what happens...???

Nice eggs, by the way!

 

[trilyn]

Congrats on the eggs! I've read on here that other people use the fake grass welcome mats cut to size for their rollaway nesting boxes. They actually do make pads for them, but man are they expensive! If I had the rollaway boxes, I think I'd definitely just get the mats and when they get full of poop, hose 'em down and put them back. You could even get extra mats and just swap them out-let one dry and use a fresh one meanwhile. It seems like it would be fairly sanitary also, well as much as you can be with those pooping machines!! lol

 

[fldiver97]

congrats on the first eggs!!!! I have 'regular' nestboxes, 2 with plain straw, the other two have a lot of shaving and then a little bit of cut straw ..... All 3 that are laying use the mix..... I also keep a couple of wooden eggs in hte boxes, they have never laid outside the nestbox

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I think the mats would work better,
my ladies all scratch the hay away, lay the egg and cover it with hay when they leave the nestbox....lol

 

[Hamptons06]

I ditto the PPs about the hay. Mine push all the shavings out of the box.

CONGRATS on the beautiful eggs!!!