I know, I know, "Do a Search".
But I have and have read until I'm blue in the face and can't find an answer.
I've opened up the nesting boxes to my 17 week old hens. Figure they are getting close to laying and wanted them to check them out. Dutifully loaded them with fresh straw..........and they, just as dutifully, threw the majority of the straw out of the boxes onto the wood chips on the floor of the coop!
Okay, I'm persistent...........but so are they! So the bottoms of the boxes are mainly bare wood and the straw is all over the coop.
I've been reading a lot and have decided to cut plastic "grass" doormats to fit the boxes so the eggs won't hit the wood when they fall. But what can I do to convince my girls to use the straw?...............................or should I think about wood chips in the boxes? Any advice from "experts"?


I've opened up the nesting boxes to my 17 week old hens. Figure they are getting close to laying and wanted them to check them out. Dutifully loaded them with fresh straw..........and they, just as dutifully, threw the majority of the straw out of the boxes onto the wood chips on the floor of the coop!

