For those of you who have dark egg layers (such as Marans)... what kind of material do you bed your nest boxes with?
We currently have pine shavings in ours but it seems to scratch & stick to our Marans eggs, which ends up making them less pretty. (Doesn't actually damage the shell itself, just the color layer). We used to bed our nests with hay but our hens insisted on pulling it out so we had to replace it several times a week. The shavings have been much better... they leave them alone & they are easier to keep clean... but they do stick to the eggs & scratch them, noticeably removing the color on the dark (Marans) eggs.
Any advice to prevent this and help protect our pretty dark eggs?
(Note: We collect eggs several times a day, and the scratches appear to be from the bedding. No evidence of the chickens pecking them)
We currently have pine shavings in ours but it seems to scratch & stick to our Marans eggs, which ends up making them less pretty. (Doesn't actually damage the shell itself, just the color layer). We used to bed our nests with hay but our hens insisted on pulling it out so we had to replace it several times a week. The shavings have been much better... they leave them alone & they are easier to keep clean... but they do stick to the eggs & scratch them, noticeably removing the color on the dark (Marans) eggs.
Any advice to prevent this and help protect our pretty dark eggs?
(Note: We collect eggs several times a day, and the scratches appear to be from the bedding. No evidence of the chickens pecking them)
